AFTER A dramatic battle to save his life in a Paris military hospital, Yasser Arafat is dead at age 75, the cause of his illness still not certain. He will be profoundly mourned by the Palestinian people whose cause for an independent state and return to a homeland he championed for the last 40 years. There will also be tacit relief in Israel at his passing where he was seen as an implacable enemy who supported terrorist groups and suicide bombings which, over the years, resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians.
To a great extent Arafat and his "Fatah" faction of the PLO were products of their times. During the Cold War, revolutionaries, insurgents and even many western intellectuals regarded terrorism as a legitimate option for oppressed peoples. Arafat, throughout his career, clung to this principle. Fatah and other PLO groups began using terror tactics in 1965, and the movement never relinquished its belief in the legitimacy of such attacks.
In the Arab world, Arafat is a hero of monumental proportions. But his earlier iconic status has been eroded over the years for his seeming compromise with Israel under pressure from the United States, on too many issues without the interests of his people being adequately addressed.
The United States often saw him as an obstacle to the Middle East peace process in general and, in particular, to the peace 'road map' proposed by President George W. Bush during his first term. Always a generous and frequently an unqualified supporter of Israeli policies, America is seen in the Arab world to be unfair to the Palestinians, sentiments intensified by the war in Iraq.
Arafat's sudden departure from the machinations of Middle East politics, coming shortly after President Bush won a second term as President of the United States, opens up hope for a new approach to peace in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Much will depend on whether an interim Palestinian government is made up of moderates like Ahmed Quorei and Mahmud Abbas who will support the rule of law and suppress the militant left. This will allow Mr. Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel, to hold out an olive branch by agreeing to an exchange of prisoners and speeding up the removal of Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip.
In this scenario, President Bush, having won re-election, can be more even-handed in pursuing his 'two state' policy and if the Palestinian/Israeli conflict shows signs of being resolved this will go a far way in ensuring peace and stability throughout the region.
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