The Murder of Arafat
by Uri Avnery

While I am writing this, Yasser Arafat is still alive. But his life is hanging on a thread.

When we visited him the last time in his bombed-out Mukata'ah compound in Ramallah, I warned him that Sharon is determined to kill him.(...)

Now Sharon believes that he can achieve his aim. He needs only Bush's approval. Not necessarily a formal confirmation. A subtle hint will suffice. Half a word. A wink.

It will be easy to implement the decision. An incident can be put in motion: soldiers enter the office in order to capture "wanted" people, somebody opens fire, Arafat will be shot "by accident". Arafat may draw his pistol, soldiers will "have no alternative" but to return fire. A shell may hit the office "by mistake", Arafat will be buried under the rubble. After all, in war accidents happen. A lot of accidents.

Sharon never wanted to "deport" Arafat to Gaza or any other place in this world. He wants to deport him to the next world. Now this is possible.

Therefore, it is necessary to speak out bluntly and unequivocally:

Morally, the murder of Arafat, the historical leader and elected president of the Palestinian people, is reprehensible. Like the murder of Rabin.

Legally, the murder of Arafat is a war crime.

Politically, it will be said about the murder of Arafat what a French statesman said about another political murder: "It is worse than a crime, it is a mistake!"

Arafat is the man who decided, 28 years ago, to start on the road to a settlement with Israel, in order to realize this way the national aspirations of the Palestinian people. At the time, that was an incredibly bold decision, and he took it long before Rabin and Peres even dreamed about Oslo. I know, because I was an eye-witness to the beginnings of the process.

Since than, Arafat has not changed by one iota the decision he took then: to seek conciliation with Israel within the framework of peace that will include an independent Palestinian state, return to the pre-1967 border with mutually agreed adjustments, Jerusalem capital of both states, withdrawal of the settlers, suitable security arrangements, a mutually agreed solution of the refugee problem.

On this basis, peace is possible even now. Immediately. But Sharon rejects is with both his fists. He wants a Greater Israel, the extension of the settlements, and, eventually, the elimination of the Palestinian presence west of the Jordan. [read more]

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Peace hopes in tatters as Israel ditches Arafat flag

It was precisely 1.28pm yesterday when Israeli troops emerged on the roof of what had once been the proudest building in the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority and unceremoniously hauled down the Palestinian flag.

As Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, was holed up powerless and humiliated in his private offices a few feet away, the disappearance of the flag from above the meeting hall where he had once received the US Secretary of State Colin Powell and other foreign dignitaries marked Israel's final repudiation of the Oslo agreement, which it had signed on the White House lawn nine years ago.

It also launched a new international crisis that could widen the splits between the Bush administration and European governments, already visible over US plans to attack Iraq. The US is backing Israel's action while Britain and France condemned it as unacceptable. [read more]