> Brian wrote: > Ok, respect his position in the eyes of his people....not necessarily what > he stood for. > > Still.....isn't it a pity that "his people" respected and loved a terrorist? > If peace begins to blossom as we all hope it will, history will forever > judge Arafat as the roadblock that, once removed, gave peace a chance. > > That'd be a perfect ending for his legacy, if you ask me. >
I think he'll be remembered as the man who united a splintered people and led them to the brink of statehood. The next leader will be remembered as the guy who closed the deal, if that's what the future holds. ** warning: old thread topic follows ** I understand this is a controversial notion but, objectively, Arafat can be looked at as a freedom fighter. If you agree that Palestine should have their own state, and that some of the land the Israelis currently occupy should rightly be Palestinian, then Arafat's terror could be viewed as war. For example, in WWII the US felt that Germany occupied land rightly owned by the allies. To get this land back we bombed German civilians is an effort to sap he will of the Germans to fight. Is that different than the Palestinian terrorists bombing the Israelis? (that's not rhetorical) Michael brought up the topic of Bin Laden. The difference there is that the US doesn't occupy and control a land Bin Laden feels rightly belongs to his people. In that sense Bin Laden can't be viewed as a freedom fighter because Saudi Arabia is considered to be ruled by the will of the people and therefore the US is a legitimate ally. The bottom line is that we may consider Arafat a terrorist, but his people may consider him a freedom fighter. Neither side is going to win that argument of definition, so why try? Let him die and move forward with peace in any way that is needed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Gold Sponsor - CFHosting.net http://www.cfhosting.net Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:135703 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
