POLITICS: United Nations Accords Arafat Head of State Honors

The United Nations accorded Yasser Arafat head of state honors today. Mr. Arafat was given a tribute in the General Assembly and the United Nations flags were flown at half mast. Secretary-General Annan requested the honors for Mr. Arafat. Mr. Annan indicated that Mr. Arafat was treated as a head of state during his life and should be treated as such in death.



The conduct of the General Assembly is a reminder that the vast majority of the world (excepting virtually only the United States and Israel) sees a different vision of Mr. Arafat than that which has pervaded US popular culture for the past several years. Up until the current administrations took office in the US and Israel, Mr. Arafat was depicted in the media as a moderate among angrier Palestinian voices. The steps he took toward the US-Israeli vision of a Palestinian state, as opposed to the hardliners insistence on the repatriation of Palestinian refugees to the land from which they took refuge, earned him respect among peace-makers and contempt among hardliners (on all sides). Mr. Arafat's biggest crime, the one for which he has been so visciously reviled by the Bush and Sharon administrations, was that he made a Palestinian future possible.

This seems to be yet another foreign policy issue on which the Israeli and US hardliners are at odds with the remainder of the world. Indeed, even Tony Blair has seen fit to break with the Bush administration on this and has paid tribute to Mr. Arafat.

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[edit on 11-11-2004 by Banshee]

The United Nations has accorded Arafat head of state honors....the U.N. is probably disappointed that they could not give him a state to be head of.

Without the U.N. Arafat would not have had the role of leader, statesman, and diplomat. Arafat did not want peace with the Israelis. In my estimation he did not want to take the role of a leader of peace.

I can only wonder why the media has done so much to make him a pillar of the peace process in the Middle East.

mike81859

There are a many sides to every issue. There's the right and the wrong, the right and the right, the wrong and the wrong, and finally the typical case where both sides are partly right and partly wrong.

Yasar Arafat can be viewed a number of ways, depending on where you're coming from. Much of the world doesn't villainize him the way we do. He did win a Nobel Peace Prize, after all. It's like I heard Pat Buchanan say on MSNBC, "Since World War II, every nation has been considered as terrorist at one time or another". It seems these days that mainly the U.S. and Israel view Arafat as a terrorist. EVERYONE ELSE (almost) understands that most of his life he fought for the cause of the Palastinian people, and their right to have a country of their own.

It's just as easy to label Ariel Sharon of Israel a terrorist as it is Yasar Arafat. Perhaps even easier. In the early 50's Sharon's "Unit 101" death squad in the IDF slaughtered innocent citizens and committed a number of mass murders. His career of mass butchery of innocent civilians spanned through the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's. Yet the U.S. fully supports him and does not consider him a terrorist.

And more currently, much of the world considers George W. Bush as the most dangerous terrorist alive. What is it? 100,000 + innocent civilians lost in Iraq so far? Hmmm ... I'd say that qualifies him to join the ranks.

In my view, what Yasar Arafat represents is much more noble than our little venture into Iraq. There's really no comparison. The Palastinians don't have nuclear weapons, bunker-buster bombs and Tomahawk missiles. They fight the only way they know how, and for a cause they feel is just. We sit around and arrogantly label them as terrorists for their methods, while at the same time blowing up and leveling another country for no good reason at all.

IMHO the U.S. has yet again ARROGANTLY thumbed it's nose at the world by sending a mid-level State Department representative to Yasar Arafat's funeral. How can anyone think of Bush as a decent person when he does so many despicable things? He's a disgrace to the nation and a setback to Human evolution.

I hope the Palastinian people are able to have a fitting memorial to a man they consider their leader and a giant for their cause. I wish them well and feel for their plight.



[edit on 11/12/2004 by netbound]

The Palestinians voted for Arafat to be their leader did they not?

Amazing.......Arafat was a terrorist no matter how you try to paint him as a saint....or a good man....

If you think that he was not a terrorist because he was a Nobel Prize co-winner in 1994, you also have to remember that Fidel castro was also nominated by Norway, "on behalf of developing nations" as a nobel prize nominee.......still Fidel Castro is, just like Arafat was, a murderer, a terrorist and a despot....