Generalissimo Yasser Arafat is Still Dead
The lifelong thug and gangster, who was responsible for hundreds if not thousands of murders, the theft of billions of dollars from his own people, and the continued failure to secure a state for said people, somehow died of natural causes, robbing him of the martyrdom he had long sought.
Only the good die young; Arafat was 75.
Funeral plans have been finalized: the “state funeral” will be held in Cairo, at which point the body will be moved so that Arafat can be buried at his compound in Ramallah, in the West Bank. I say once he’s buried, Israel should send tanks to surround his grave every couple of months, just for old times sake.
After last year’s Brooklyn service and rally outside the Israeli consulate after the head of Hamas was killed, we’re likely to see lots of protests/memorials around New York in the next few days. I plan to attend them all, clad in an IDF T-shirt.
Vegas has not as of yet released the over/under for funeral riot deaths.
The death of Arafat, who edges out Kofi Annan and Henry Kissinger for the title of Most Embarrassing Noble Peace Prize Winner, also represents my second score in the Blogger Dead Pool, after Ronald Reagan.
When Yitzhak Rabin died in 1995, there was about seven hours of nonstop news coverage on every channel. When Arafat died tonight, Fox News reported the story for about two minutes before switching back to an O’Reilly re-run.
In conclusion, good riddance to a horrible monster. There’s just a little bit less evil in the world today than there was yesterday. And the best thing of all is that Arafat died without ever realizing his dream of the end of the State of Israel.
If You Will It, Dude, It Is No DreamPosted by Stephen Silver at November 11, 2004 12:51 AM
Like his checkered headress, the man bore a checkered past to say the least. The key now will be Israel's ability to identify and negotiate with moderate Palestinian leaders, if there are any. This is truly a crucial hour for Israel, the peace process, and the region as a whole.
Posted by: abe at November 11, 2004 01:34 AMWell said, but I have to believe that Rabin's death warranted more news coverage since A) he was assassinated, so his death was not expected for weeks in advance, and B) Arafat was a terrorist scumbag masquerading as a world leader, not an actual head of state.
As a side note, Arafat's obituary on NYTimes.com is by far the longest article I've ever read on that website (having not read the website for its 9/11 coverage - preferring to read the paper version - I can't be 100 percent sure its the longest article in the site's history). At 8 pages, it seems that the obituarist (is that even a word?) has been writing this continually wihtout editing for the past 10 years.
Finally! "I plan to attend them all, clad in an IDF T-shirt". If i was in the States right now, i would do the same... let me know how that goes.
Finally, the first article I wrote for Freedom Magazine in my freshman year has come to fruition!
Posted by: Jabbett at November 15, 2004 04:16 PM