Overlooked story in todays rush on memorials

[Gonz]

Methinks Arafat is about to enter forced exile. The story is hard to find, at the moment.

Israeli special forces troops encircle Arafat’s government headquarters in Ramallah Thursday.

The only other source is al Jazerrah.

 

[PT]

Hell, they encircled it a few months ago, what's the big deal?

 

[Gonz]

This time the Israeli gov't is calling for his ouster. And they're talking about ignoring the US.

 

[Squiggy]

Ignore the US? Don't they know we'll attack them for that?

 

[Gonz]

JERUSALEM — Israel must expel Yasser Arafat (search) and should not necessarily be deterred by U.S. objections, the Israeli foreign minister said Thursday, ahead of a crucial government debate on the fate of the Palestinian leader.

Fair & Balanced

 

[chcr]

This time the Israeli gov't is calling for his ouster. And they're talking about ignoring the US.

They only pay attention to us when it suits their purposes.

 

[ris]

israeli security cabinet agrees in principle to expell arafat

i have no problem with arafat being expelled if they can persuade sharon to go with him. i see both of them as restrictive to the peace processes in the region, they are both too wedded to the past and locked into their personal wars. bbc more

 

[Gonz]

escalation

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Yasser Arafat ``is a complete obstacle'' to peace and will be removed, the Israeli government said in a statement Thursday. The Israeli security Cabinet, however, put off action on expelling the 74-year-old Palestinian leader.

``No one can kick me out,'' Arafat said at his West Bank compound. Asked if he would leave of his own accord, he said, ``definitely not.''

The Israeli government statement said ``recent days' events have proven again that Yasser Arafat is a complete obstacle to any process of reconciliation.''

``Israel will act to remove this obstacle in the manner, at the time, and in the ways that will be decided on separately,'' the statement said.

 

[ris]

i saw on the news tonight scores of palestinians storming the ramalla hq to show support which arafat eagerly lapped up. israel may find that this is the wrong way to go about trying to alienate a man they want out of the way. he is pretty unpopular with palestinians, many of whom seem to have lost faith in him.
to expell him may only bring together a seige mentality that makes them protect him. he will become a martyr to the cause again, a focus for outrage, when what will probably do most good is for him to fade quickly from importance for the palestinian people.

 

[Gonz]

Which takes us completely back to the beginning. Inaction can be seen as the enemy of peace. Sometimes it's better to do the wrong thing for the right reasons than to do nothing at all. The current crisis is 50 years old. Somebody has to win it all & lose it all to end it.

 

[Gonz]

HOLY SHIT BATMAN!!!! This is old fashioned editorializing

Jerusalem Post Editorial: Kill Arafat
Thu Sep 11 2003 22:11:57 ET

The world will not help us; we must help ourselves. We must kill as many of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders as possible, as quickly possible, while minimizing collateral damage, but not letting that damage stop us. And we must kill Yasser Arafat, because the world leaves us no alternative.

No one seriously argues with the fact that Arafat was preventing Mahmoud Abbas, the prime minister he appointed, from combating terrorism, to the extent that was willing to do so. Almost no one seriously disputes that Abbas on whom Israel, the US, and Europe had placed all their bets failed primarily because Arafat retained control of much of the security apparatus, and that Arafat wanted him to fail.

The new prime minister, Ahmed Qurei, clearly will fare no better, since he, if anything, has been trying to garner more power for Arafat, not less. Under these circumstances, the idea of exiling Arafat is gaining currency, but the standard objection is that he will be as much or more of a problem when free to travel the world than he is locked up in Ramallah.

If only three countries Britain, France, and Germany joined the US in a total boycott of Arafat this would not be the case. If these countries did not speak with Arafat, it would not matter much who did, and however much a local Palestinian leader would claim to consult with Arafat, his power would be gone.

But such a boycott will not happen. Only now, after more than 800 Israelis have died in three years of suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks, has Europe finally decided that Hamas is a terrorist organization. How much longer will it take before it cuts off Arafat? Yet Israel cannot accept a situation in which Arafat blocks any Palestinian break with terrorism, whether from here or in exile. Therefore, we are at another point in our history at which the diplomatic risks of defending ourselves are exceeded by the risks of not doing so.

Such was the case in the Six Day War, when Israel was forced to launch a preemptive attack or accept destruction. And when Menachem Begin decided to bomb the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981. And when Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield in Palestinian cities after the Passover Massacre of 2002. In each case, Israel tried every fashion of restraint, every plea to the international community to take action that would avoid the need for "extreme" measures, all to no avail. When the breaking point arrives, there is no point in taking half-measures. If we are going to be condemned in any case, we might as well do it right.

Arafat's death at Israel's hands would not radicalize Arab opposition to Israel; just the opposite. The current jihad against us is being fueled by the perception that Israel is blocked from taking decisive action to defend itself.

Arafat's survival and power are a test of the proposition that it is possible to pursue a cause through terror and not have that cause rejected by the international community. Killing Arafat, more than any other act, would demonstrate that the tool of terror is unacceptable, even against Israel, even in the name of a Palestinian state. Arafat does not just stand for terror, he stands for the refusal to make peace with Israel under any circumstances and within any borders.

In this respect, there is no distinction, beyond the tactical, between him and Hamas. Europe's refusal to utterly reject him condemns Palestinians, no less than Israelis, to endless war and dooms the possibility of the two-state solution the world claims to seek.

While the prospect of a Palestinian power vacuum is feared by some, the worst of all worlds is what exists now: Terrorists attack Israel at will under the umbrella of legitimacy provided by Arafat. Hamas would not be able to fill a post-Arafat vacuum; on the contrary, Hamas would lose the cover it has today.

A word must be said here about the most common claim made by those who would not isolate Arafat, let alone kill him: that he is the elected leader of the Palestinian people. Even if Arafat was chosen in a truly free election (when does his term end?), which we would dispute, this does not close the question of his legitimacy.

Whom the Palestinians choose to lead them is none of our business, provided it is a free choice, and provided they do not opt for leaders who choose terror and aggression. So long as the Palestinians choose such a leadership, it should be held no more immune to counterattack by Israel than the Taliban and Saddam Hussein were by the United States.

We complain that a double standard is applied to us, and it is. But we cannot complain when we apply that double standard to ourselves. Arafat's survival, under our watchful eyes, is living testimony to our tolerance of that double standard. If we want another standard to be applied, we must begin by applying it ourselves.

 

[ris]

i do wonder how far away the next palestinian elections are, they would be an excellent opportunity for arafat to step down and slip into the shadows.

the polemic is interesting but i cannot agree with the ideology behind it. they would create a martyr that would take decades to get over. if the argument at the end were applied elsewhere, that israel should not tolerate a democratically elected palestinian leader with dirty hands, then they should expect the same crticism and actions against their choices from its own neighbours and is precisely the reason why un law is so clear on setting out reasons for regime change.

the world has moved on a long way from the era of winner takes all. the same things were said about northern ireland that there was no way the people could live together but it has been proved wrong. it is the leaders who cannot work together and in the same way when entrenched political dinosaurs like rev paisley and gerry adams step down the process will move far more quickly.

 

[Gonz]

This adds an intersesting twist.

© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

Saudi Arabia has transferred much of its advanced F-15 fighter-jet fleet to the northern air force base at Tabuk near the Israeli border and within striking distance of the Jewish state, in an apparent violation of the kingdom's pledge to the United States.

Israeli defense sources said the F-15s were transferred on the eve of the U.S.-led war in Iraq in March to protect them against Iraqi air or missile attack. The sources said the kingdom has refused to return the F-15s to their original bases in central and eastern Saudi Arabia despite the fall of Saddam Hussein in April.

The United States has asked the Saudi kingdom at least twice to return the F-15s to their bases, the sources said. The U.S. request was prompted by Israeli concern that the F-15s present a military threat to the Jewish state.

The chief concern is that an al-Qaida sympathizer within the Saudi Air Force would fly an F-15E toward Israel in a suicide attack. Israel's military has increased its monitoring over Tabuk during the last few months as a result of this concern.

 

[Gonz]

More fun with Yassir & Friends

DEBKAfile Reports Exclusively: Arafat is plotting imminent mega-terror attacks to force international intervention in conflict and downgrade US role. He has pushed PM-designate Abu Ala aside and grabbed Palestinian center stage as solo performer.

Just saving it for tomorrows headlines.