“Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth,Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him.” This biblical injunction (Proverbs 24:17) is oneof the most profound Jewish moral tenets.
In this connection, Israel is very far from being a “Jewish State”, as it likes to defineitself. The disgusting filth poured out over Yasser Arafat during the last few days inpractically all the Israeli media makes one ashamed to be an Israeli.
The demonization of the Palestinian national leader, which has been the center-piece ofIsraeli propaganda for decades, continues even after his death. It seems that 37 years asoccupiers have bestialized our society and left it bereft even of common decency. Ministersand fishmongers, TV icons and university professors, “leftists” and outright fasciststried to outdo each other in utter vulgarity.
Never was the huge gap in the perceptions of the two peoples more striking than on the day ofArafat’s funeral. While Israeli commentators and “experts on Arab affairs” – almost all ofthem veterans of the various intelligence agencies – described the late leader as a veritablemonster, the epitome of cruelty, viciousness and corruption – a hundred thousandgrief-stricken mourners in Ramallah exploded in a burst of emotions that nearly threw thefuneral into pandemonium. If the Israeli army had not surrounded and isolated allPalestinian towns that day, more than a million people would have been there.
Gush Shalom, the only Israeli organization that openly mourned alongside thePalestinian people, decided to send a delegation to the funeral. All of us activists, womenand men, wore on our breast a big sticker displaying the Israeli and Palestinian flags. Thesheer pressure of the multitude split us up among the crowd. Throughout the hours of thefuneral, we felt completely safe, even when thousands of shots were fired around us into theair to express grief and bereavement. We encountered hundreds of expressions of gratitudeand friendship from Palestinians of all ages and stations in life.
I was in the middle of the melee when the helicopter bearing the coffin arrived from Cairo .Standing beside the grave among the Palestinian ministers, religious dignitaries anddiplomats, I was vividly aware of the intense emotions of the huge crowd around us when thehelicopter touched down. I remembered the scene of Gamal Abd-al-Nasser’s funeral in 1970,when the masses surged forward and literally captured the body of their beloved leader fromthe soldiers, and felt that this was going to happen here at any moment. And it did.
No Arab leader – and very few world leaders – evoke such profound love and admiration amongtheir people as this man, whom Israelis consider a veritable monster in human form. ThePalestinians trusted him, relied on him, let him make all the big decisions that demandedcourage, derived from him the strength to defy the intolerable conditions under a brutaloccupation. Now, suddenly, incredibly, they found themselves alone, like orphaned waifs,in a world changed by the death of a man who left a huge gap behind him.
What will happen now? Arafat has brought his people from the edge of oblivion to thethreshold of independence. But the battle for liberation is still far from over. The newleadership will have to face all the problems that confronted Arafat, without the toweringauthority of Arafat.
Abu Mazen, Abu-Ala and their colleagues are upright, decent people. I have known them foryears, mostly from meetings with Arafat. But they have no deep roots in their people. It may beyears before a strong leadership emerges.
At the moment, the Palestinians are united in their resolve to show the world that they canovercome this crisis in a civilized and responsible manner. This could have been a chance forIsrael (and the United States , of course) to open a new chapter in relations with thePalestinian people.
What could have been done? Well, there should have been a show of goodwill with suchgestures as the mass release of Palestinian prisoners, including the much respected Fatahleader Marwan Barghouti, who has been sentenced to serve five consecutive life sentences.Sieges should have been lifted and army operations at least reduced. Peace negotiationsshould have been announced for the near future.
The first test was, of course, the funeral itself. Arafat should have been buried inJerusalem, according to his wishes. His interment in Ramallah will only strengthen theresolve of the Palestinians to fight until they are able to re-bury him there. The Minister ofJustice, Tommy Lapid, an extreme rightist posing as a liberal, reached new heights ofvulgarity when he declared that “Jewish Kings, not Arab terrorists, are buried in Jerusalem”. Well, Menachem Begin, a terrorist who became a “king” and was buried in Jerusalem , couldhave served as a precedent.
But the most important thing is to enable the Palestinians to hold elections within 60days of the death of the President, as their constitution demands. Actually, my lastconversation with Arafat, a few weeks ago (when, by the way, he looked quite healthy)concerned elections. We agreed that they are impracticable while the Israeli army routinelyassassinates potential candidates and makes movement between towns and villages almostimpossible. How will candidates – if they remain alive – canvass their voters? How will theydistribute material, hold meetings and debate policies, with tanks in the background andhelicopter gunships hovering overhead?
This situation must be changed at once. All troops must be withdrawn at least from theareas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority (so-called Areas A and B,according to the Oslo agreements), freedom of movement restored, the assassinationcampaign stopped and, most importantly, international observers invited .
Will this happen? Probably not. Ariel Sharon has absolutely no interest in sittingopposite a democratically elected leadership enjoying international legitimacy andrespect, perhaps even weakening his control over President Bush and obstructing his plan forthe annexation of most of the West Bank . He will do everything to prevent elections, and, ofcourse, blame the Palestinians.
As always, it is advisable to ignore what Sharon says – and pay close attention to what hedoes.