ARABS, TOO, ARE LOSING PATIENCE WITH ARAFAT

 Artículo de Uri Dromi en  “The International Herald Tribune” del 22/05/2004

Por su interés y relevancia, he seleccionado el artículo que sigue para incluirlo en este sitio web. (L. B.-B.)

An obstacle to peace

JERUSALEM For the last several years, Israelis and Americans have been saying that unless Yasser Arafat goes, peace in the Middle East is doomed. They say that he never rose to the historic occasion offered to the Palestinians in the summer of 2000, when he rejected the far-reaching peace offer placed on the table by Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel and President Bill Clinton.

They say he is no Nelson Mandela, who knew how to switch from a revolutionary to a nation-builder. And they say he can't wash his hands of terrorism.

I have my own reasons to believe all of the above. In May 1994, as a spokesman for the Israeli government, I traveled with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to Cairo for the signing of an agreement with the Palestine Liberation Organization on the handover of Gaza and Jericho.

The night before the signing, Rabin and Arafat argued over the outstanding issues, with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt going out of his way to mend fences. Finally, just before dawn, all was settled. We went to catch a few hours of sleep before the ceremony.

Then, in front of the festive crowd assembled in Cairo's convention center, with the world watching on television, Arafat struck.

He was supposed to sign first. All seemed to go smoothly: He sat at the table and solemnly signed the voluminous agreement, and then returned to his place on the stage next to the other dignitaries. Then Rabin sat at the table and started signing.

Suddenly he stopped, his face reddened, he looked around and said something inaudible. Israel's legal adviser rushed to the stage. The crowd became restless. No one knew what was happening.

We finally found out that at the historic moment meant to bring his people closer to the fulfillment of their dreams, Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, couldn't help himself. He had only pretended to sign all the pages of the agreement, skipping some.

Rabin, furious, threatened to leave. Mubarak, the insulted host, confronted Arafat, and, as later rumors had it, gave him a piece of his mind in solid Arabic. Arafat refused to yield, claiming that certain things had not been agreed upon. Only after a long, unscheduled break did he finally succumb and sign.

On the flight back to Israel, I asked myself what Arafat had accomplished by putting on this show. Maybe he was trying to send a message to the Palestinians, something like: Watch me, I'll pull every trick for your sake, and I will never bow to the Israelis and the Americans.

Arafat may indeed have won some points among his people. But he also exposed himself as someone who could not be trusted. And in the long run, this turned out to be a huge blow to the Palestinian cause.

Such behavior became a pattern. When the jubilant Arafat returned to Gaza, it was later revealed, while waving to the joyous Palestinian crowds he was smuggling in his car a terrorist wanted by Israel.

So with lies, double-talk and gimmicks, Arafat lost everyone's trust. He had surely lost the Israelis'. I, for one, have long regretted believing a single word he had said. It seems that President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell don't view him in any better light. For most Israelis and Americans, he has become the obstacle to peace in the Middle East. But what do Israelis and Americans know?

When King Abdullah of Jordan visited Washington recently, he was asked by Jim Lehrer of PBS what he thought of Arafat. He responded: "I think the message from not only myself, but other Arab leaders and those in the Palestinian constituency, is that, Arafat, this is, that you have to step up to the plate, and if you don't deliver this time, then there's a serious chance that the Palestinians will lose a chance at their future."

If King Abdullah's tone was mild, that's because he was schooled in the best tradition of British understatement. But on Monday he became more explicit. When asked in an interview with The New York Times to comment on Powell's repeated complaints that Arafat was an obstacle to peace, King Abdullah said: "I think Arafat needs to have a long look in the mirror to be able to see whether his position is helping the Palestinian cause or not."

There was more. The king went on to say, "I know that there are discussions inside the Palestinian leadership of this idea of him becoming president and giving the prime minister more authority." And finally, "If this allows the Palestinians to get beyond the obstacle that they are facing now with the United States and Israel, then that is something the Palestinians need to sort out and sort out quickly."

There is a growing desire among Israelis to resume the peace process: Last Saturday a huge crowd rallied in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv precisely for that reason. And there is enough steam in Washington to push things ahead. Not with Arafat, though.

If Arabs refuse to listen to what Israelis or Americans are telling them about Yasser Arafat, calling it either propaganda or imperialism, then maybe they should listen to King Abdullah of Jordan, flesh of their flesh, who seems to know what he is talking about.

Uri Dromi is director of international outreach at the Israel Democracy Institute, Jerusalem.