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Why did India (Goa) declare 3 days of mourning on Mr. Arafat's passing?? Is it only because we have a Congress-led government at the center and Mr. Arafat was present for Mrs. Gandhi's funeral ?? Does India regularly declare mourning when world leaders pass away ?? I think we can debate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict till we're blue in the face. As Tariq rightly says an "Occupation is Occupation"......on the flipside history tells us the Israelis were at war for more than a year in 1948 to create the state of Israel. The Israelis will never give up an inch of land when they fought long and hard to obtain it. Many of Israel's present day political leaders have fought in it's many wars, including Nobel Laureate (Peace) Yitzhak Rabin. The Jews always had the upperhand from the get-go after the Holocaust albeit they were buying land from the Palestinians long before 1948 similar to how non-Goans are buying vast tracts of land in Goa. Nevertheless viewing the Palestinians living in ghettoized environments is reminiscent of Soweto....only here it is more concrete than corrugated metal. I hope the community of nations and the people involved on both sides will come together to alleviate the conditions of the Palestinians while at the same time safeguarding the habitants of Israel. Mr. Correia-Afonso's comparisons of Arafat with other luminary figures of history is misplaced. Would he consider the mujahedin (LeT) in Kashmir as heroes ?? Would he consider the proponents of an armed assault to extricate Goa from India as heroes ?? Mr. Correia-Afonso says "Let us not put a label on people on the basis of our own pre-conceived notions or, what is worse, on notions conceived for us by vested interests. Let history be the judge of who is a hero and who is a terrorist." RESPONSE: Exactly !! You are giving us your pre-conceived notion too !! There's plenty of reading matter available - "Israeli/American", European, Arab, Muslim, Jewish, left-wing, right-wing, shock-jock, etc. that helps us make an opinion. The original poster, "Comet", had his opinion - Arafat was a terrorist besides being a jet-setting, city-hopping, gun-toting, wheeling-dealing, etc. etc. etc...!! Why the holiday ?? Holidays have economic consequences !! Best wishes - Bosco --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Goanet - http://www.goanet.org - Goa's premier mailing list is 10 years old
