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Arafat Quotes

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Arafat Quotes

“Edward genially enough did not disagree with what I said, but he didn't seem to admit my point, either. I wanted to press him harder so I veered close enough to the ad hominem to point out that his life—the life of the mind, the life of the book collector and music lover and indeed of the gallery-goer, appreciator of the feminine and occasional boulevardier—would become simply unlivable and unthinkable in an Islamic republic. Again, he could accede politely to my point but carry on somehow as if nothing had been conceded. I came slowly to realize that with Edward, too, I was keeping two sets of books. We agreed on things like the first Palestinian intifadah, another event that took the Western press completely off guard, and we collaborated on a book of essays that asserted and defended Palestinian rights. This was in the now hard-to-remember time when all official recognition was withheld from the PLO. Together we debated Professor Bernard Lewis and Leon Wieseltier at a once-celebrated conference of the Middle East Studies Association in Cambridge in 1986, tossing and goring them somewhat in a duel over academic 'objectivity' in the wider discipline. But even then I was indistinctly aware that Edward didn't feel himself quite at liberty to say certain things, while at the same time feeling rather too much obliged to say certain other things. A low point was an almost uncritical profile of Yasser Arafat that he contributed to Interview magazine in the late 1980s.”

ArtMusicFeminismBooksDebateMiddle EastPalestineIntellectualismCambridgeTheocracyIsraeli Palestinian ConflictPalestiniansArafat1980sEdward SaidAd Hominem1986IntifadaMiddle Eastern StudiesInterview MagazineBernard LewisIslamic RepublicFirst IntifadaLeon Wieseltier
Book:Hitch 22: A Memoir
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“I was taken to a villa to meet Sabri al-Banna, known as 'Abu Nidal' ('father of struggle'), who was at the time emerging as one of Yasser Arafat's main enemies. The meeting began inauspiciously when Abu Nidal asked me if I would like to be trained in one of his camps. No thanks, I explained. From this awkward beginning there was a further decline. I was then asked if I knew Said Hammami, the envoy of the PLO in London. I did in fact know him. He was a brave and decent man, who in a series of articles in the London Times had floated the first-ever trial balloon for a two-state solution in Israel/Palestine. 'Well tell him he is a traitor,' barked my host. 'And tell him we have only one way with those who betray us.' The rest of the interview passed as so many Middle Eastern interviews do: too many small cups of coffee served with too much fuss; too many unemployed heavies standing about with nothing to do and nobody to do it with; too much ugly furniture, too many too-bright electric lights; and much too much faux bonhomie. The only political fact I could winnow, from Abu Nidal's vainglorious claims to control X number of 'fighters' in Y number of countries, was that he admired the People's Republic of China for not recognizing the State of Israel. I forget how I got out of his office.”

WarPoliticsIraqIsraelChinaLondonInterviewsMiddle EastPalestineArafatMilitary TrainingTwo State SolutionPloThe TimesAbu NidalSaid Hammami
Book:Hitch 22: A Memoir
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“Inevitably came the time when he angrily repudiated his former paladin Yasser Arafat. In fact, he described him to me as 'the Palestinian blend of Marshal Petaín and Papa Doc.' But the main problem, alas, remained the same. In Edward's moral universe, Arafat could at last be named as a thug and a practitioner of corruption and extortion. But he could only be identified as such to the extent that he was now and at last aligned with an American design. Thus the only truly unpardonable thing about 'The Chairman' was his readiness to appear on the White House lawn with Yitzhak Rabin and Bill Clinton in 1993. I have real knowledge and memory of this, because George Stephanopoulos—whose father's Orthodox church in Ohio and New York had kept him in touch with what was still a predominantly Christian Arab-American opinion—called me more than once from the White House to help beseech Edward to show up at the event. 'The feedback we get from Arab-American voters is this: If it's such a great idea, why isn't Said signing off on it?' When I called him, Edward was grudging and crabby. 'The old man [Arafat] has no right to sign away land.' Really? Then what had the Algiers deal been all about? How could two states come into being without mutual concessions on territory?”

United StatesNew YorkCorruptionWhite HouseTerritoryOhioChristiansIsraeli Palestinian ConflictArabsExtortionArafatBill ClintonEdward Said1993Vox PopuliFrancois DuvalierGeorge StephanopoulosPhilippe PetainYitzhak Rabin
Book:Hitch 22: A Memoir
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“We are a people with no army, no navy, no air force, no arms. It's people, thousands of people, who are feeling, sensing the sense of urgency, fearing for the president of their life - the life of their president, trying to protect their democratic choice, because Arafat is the elected leader of the Palestinian people.”

PeopleTryingFeelingsChoicesForcePresidentLeaderAirArmsProtectArmyDemocraticPalestinianNavyUrgencyAir ForceSensingSense Of UrgencyArafatElected Leaders
Author:Saeb Erekat
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“Palestinians no longer blamed Yasser Arafat or Hamas for their troubles. Now they blamed the Israelis for killing their children. But I still couldn't escape a fundamental question: Why were those children out there in the first place? Where were the parents? Why didn't their mothers and fathers keep them inside? Those children should have been sitting at their desks in school, not running in the streets throwing stones at armed soldiers.”

ShouldFirstsChildrenHas BeensStillsRunningSchoolMotherFatherParentTroubleStreetsSittingStonesShould HaveFundamentalsKillingSoldierThrowingPalestinianDesksShould Have BeenMother And FatherHamasArafatThrowing Stones
Book:Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices
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“People - whether you like to hear what people have got to say, not you have got to listen to them, and turning your back on people I found very insulting. If you're going to really make peace, you have got to confront each other and look each other in the eye, and that's what's happen - I'm always remember Yitzhak Rabin shaking hands with Yasser Arafat and the reluctance in - Yasser Arafat put his hand down and the reluctance of Yitzhak Rabin, but then he had that second and then he just shook the hand.”

PeopleIfsLooksHandsHappensEyeRememberFoundDown AndShakingInsultingMaking PeaceReluctanceArafatShaking HandsTurning Your Back
Author:Warren Mundine
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“There is something very consistent about governance in the Arab world. Among the Arab countries today in which there is a modicum of internal stability, each is controlled by an Arafat-type figure - an anti-democratic strongman who is able to crush all challenges to his authority. Likewise, among those Arab countries that aren't ruled by a despot, the political dynamic is also consistent: In Lebanon, Iraq, and now Gaza, sectarian violence is the dominant form of political expression.”

WorldCountryTodayAbleFormPoliticalChallengesViolenceFiguresExpressionTypeAuthorityDemocraticIraqCrushConsistentInternalsControlledStabilityDominantGovernanceGazaLebanonDespotsArab WorldArafat
Author:Michael Totten
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“In this way, it seems to me that, since 1984, my book on the logistics of perception has been proved totally correct. For instance, almost every conflict since then has involved the logistics of perception, including the war in Lebanon, where Israel made use of cheap drones in order to track Yasser Arafat with the aim of killing him.”

WayHas BeensMadeBookWarUseSeemsOrderInvolvedConflictPerceptionAimKillingIncludingTrackIsraelInstanceDronesLebanonLogisticsArafat
Author:Paul Virilio
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“The principal sponsors of the terrorists are not religious fanatics. "Palestine's Yasser Arafat, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, and Syria's Assad family have made themselves the icons of Islamism despite the fact that they are well-known atheists who live un-Muslim lives and have persecuted unto death the Muslim movements in their countries."”

WellsMadeCountryFactsReligiousKnownMovementAtheistIraqScaryTerroristDespitePrincipalSyriaWell KnownSaddamPalestineHusseinFanaticsIconsPersecutedSponsorsAssadReligious FanaticsArafat
Author:William F. Buckley, Jr.
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