QotD: Arafat
Posted November 9th, 2004 @ 01:47pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Question: Will Yassar Arafat's death be a good or bad thing, overall, for peace in the world?
My Answer: I have no idea. I recognize the Palestinians are probably going to miss him, as he's done a great deal for them. Whether or not Israel sees this as some sort of opportunity may determine whether this becomes "good" or "bad." However, at least 10% of my knowledge of Israel-Palestinian issues is attributable to West Wing, so I'm far from being "up to date" on this one and look forward to intelligent responses.
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Posted 09 Nov 2004 at 2:54pm #
My guess is that it will be a bad thing. He is one of the world's richest politicians and right now people are already starting to wonder where the money will go - his (soon to be) widow or the Palestinian people. Moreover, one should not forget that Israel's governments since Rabin have not exactly done much for the peace - let them have their own state already. All those decade-old conflicts involve some kind of blatant bilateral stupidity - the same goes for Ireland (the Republic of vs. Ulster). The Palestinians are losing a powerful leader but that will certainly not solve the conflict although some Israelis might think so. A small group of people is losing its voice now - and I doubt very much that it will just make them shut up...
Posted 09 Nov 2004 at 3:55pm #
I think that it will be a good thing. Arafat has had his chance for many years to make a peace. He has come close, but it has always broken off (for some reason or another). For the last year (or more) he didn't really have any control over the process, Israel and the US has not been talking to him.
Of course it will depend on who replaces him, but I think that there is a much better chance of things moving forward with a new face for the palestinians.
Posted 09 Nov 2004 at 6:07pm #
To hard to tell... no matter how you see Arafat had some ability to controll hezbollah hamas... if only by his presence. Most likely a power strungle inside the PLO/PLA will exist... and all three groups will clash... if the PLO/PLA come out on top then yes his death will help bring along piece between the two... as for world peace... I don't see that happening with the current president... and thats not his fault persay... to me the current president has a greater influence on world piece than arafat.
Posted 11 Nov 2004 at 1:08am #
Samual, understand that the "tewwowists" biggest issue is the Israel/Palestinian conflict. If someone with a heart gets installed, and we loan Rabin one, then we can get it ironed out, get some peace, and get the hell out of there. With us gone there's only massive amounts of historical ills to fuel the fundamentalist raghead C4-strap-on attacks on the US, and they generally don't get so worked-up about those ills.
In other words, fixing Israel/Palestine might just cause greater world peace. So, getting a peaceful replacement to Arafat would help significantly. Now, finding a peaceful replacement ... that's the hard part.