20 November 2010 By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid If late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was
among us today, would the Palestinian situation be as
it is? Gaza is in a state of secession, negotiations
are at a stalemate, the Palestinian cause has dropped
down the list of priorities, coming behind the issues
of Iraq, Iran, the Shebaa farms, Darfur and al-Qaeda
in Yemen. What distinguished the late President Arafat was
his ability to light a candle and start a fire at the
same time, thus giving hope and creating chaos
simultaneously. Arafat was not an adventurous man and
was often criticized by others, but would always end
up with the least amount of losses. This explains his
frequent retreats, and refusals to accept settlements,
which he had earlier agreed to. It also explains why
many had grown accustomed to waiting for his actions,
rather than his words. He was long known to be a
political chameleon rather than a hot-headed military
commander. His pistol was just a symbolic appearance;
his most remarkable skill was his power of persuasion
and argument. Yasser Arafat's skills were evident in the
Palestinian camp, which was crammed with rival
leaderships, some of which were loyal to several
foreign parties. Arafat knew how to connect with them,
or at least how to pull on their reins from a
distance. He was a clever acrobat who had fallen
multiple times off the tightrope, without breaking his
neck. He was well aware that everyone, even those who
were fighting him, would be of use some day.
Accordingly he never shut the door on anyone. One of the late Palestinian leader's most prominent
achievements was imposing the idea of Palestine, as a
state project, upon the Arabs in 1988. Prior to that,
Palestine was just an Anglo-Ottoman legacy, divided
amongst Jordan, Egypt and Syria. It was not easy to
convince those countries to give up their "Palestinian
territories". Nevertheless, Arafat excelled, and
maintained good relations with Aman, Cairo and
Damascus, albeit with some short-term setbacks. However, after liberating the Palestinian
territories on paper, from their Arab owners, Arafat
could not do much against the Israeli occupation. The
biggest enemy he had to face was the facts of Arab
geography. Nasser, and then Sadat, had both closed off
Sinai to the Palestinian resistance. Equally, the
Syrian leadership tightened its closure of the Golan
Heights, whereas Jordan expelled all members of the
Palestinian resistance, after bloody clashes, and
their efforts to target the Jordanian regime. Afterwards, everyone agreed to leave one open
channel for the Palestinian resistance, namely
Lebanon, for it was considered to be a soft state. The
Lebanese had no choice but to incorporate the
Palestinian resistance into their local conflicts. The
resistance participated in clashes between Sunnis and
Christians, Sunnis and Syrians, Syrians and
Christians, and finally Sunnis and Shiites.
Eventually, Israel expelled Arafat from Lebanon to
Tunisia, on a journey that was thought to be a final
farewell. By creating a secret Palestinian negotiating team
as a replacement for Arafat, the U.S. hoped it would
lure agents away from Yasser Arafat, who had taken up
residence in al-Hammam district in Tunis.
Surprisingly, Arafat was in on everything that the
U.S. was planning. He knew of the conspiracy that was
being organized but was waiting for the right time to
play his hand. Arafat had no desire to compete with
Hanan Ashrawi, and Abdul Shafi, in the dangerous
negotiating game. The Palestinian negotiators served and paved the
way for him. They took a risk and entered into
negotiations. Yasser Arafat felt that the Arabs and
the Palestinians would not object if he insisted on
completing his mission, thus he returned to Palestine.
Executing such political manoeuvres at that time
was far more dangerous than doing so today. The Arab
regimes in control at the time were far more severe.
For example, Saddam Hussein had equipped himself with
dangerous people, such as Abu Nidal, whom he had
invited to Baghdad, to take on the task of killing
Yasser Arafat's men. What really exhausted the late Palestinian
president was not Israel, but rather his Arab
brothers. Most of the dangers faced by Arafat came
from rival Arab countries, with conflicting interests.
For example, if he shook hands with one Arab leader,
he would be considered an enemy in the eyes of
another, and so on and so forth. Yet Arafat did not
hesitate to participate in this game of conflicting
interests, out of a belief that it was the only means
to protect Palestinian interests. Today we can't say that President Mahmoud Abbas is
less competent, but he is definitely playing the game
in a different style. Had Arafat been present today,
maybe Hamas wouldn't have led such a smooth and
comfortable existence in Gaza. Arafat would have
protested, and would have been a constant thorn in
their side. Yet today, Hamas is suffocating President
Abbas. With regards to the major cause, Abbas, the
apprentice of Arafat, negotiates without taking risks,
leaving the final settlement issue to those who would
succeed him. Al Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya television. He is also the
former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in the daily newspapers of
Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is a US post-graduate degree in mass communications.
He has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs. He is currently based
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