Vicious
Lies
By M. Hamdan Azhar
Yousuf
The Pennsylvania State University US
In this new media age, the
truth is hard to find. Ever since the passing
of President Yasser Arafat, there has been so
much dirt floating around the airwaves that one
truly wonders if some people have no sense of
shame.
Even after his death, vicious and often vulgar
lies are propagated against this great man, the
man who founded the modern Palestinian movement.
It would be an understatement to say that Arafat
was loved. He was revered; he was one of those
special individuals that come along ever so often
who bring that most precious of commodities: hope.
Arafat gave hope to millions of displaced and
oppressed Palestinians of a better life to come.
He gave them hope that the future would herald
for them a state of their own.
For forty years, he strugg led relentlessly for
a Palestinian state. And it is because of this
determination, that today, everyone in the world
knows about Palestine. He refused to budge, over
years of pressure and intimidation, on his insistence
on the right of self-determination for his people.
For all his effort, George W. Bush in 2001,announced
his support for a Palestinian state. Without Arafat,
the Palestinians would today be a disorganized
mass of refugees at the brink of extinction.
Arafat’s successors, Abu Mazen and Abul
Ala, inherit a great legacy, and must strive for
the fulfillment of Arafat’s dream. In the
Arab world, the only way to gain legitimacy is
to earn it. By being steadfast in pursuit of a
Palestinian state, these leaders can truly live
up to Arafat’s vision.
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