TV Images of Grief Mask True Story

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The New York Sun

RAMALLAH – On TV it probably looked dramatic enough: tears, anger, gunshots, and burning tires. The reality was less impressive.


Ramallah’s reaction to the death of Yasser Arafat was dutiful rather than fervent. Barely 1,000 people, most of them youths or government workers who had been given the day off, turned up at the town’s main square to chant and march.


Perhaps the subdued response was a consequence of the time he took in passing. Perhaps, after his 40 years in power, Palestinian Arabs, most of whom have grown up under his leadership, could not imagine life without him. Or maybe they were waiting until today or tomorrow, when he is expected to be buried in a concrete coffin under a stand of pine trees in the Muqata compound, in soil brought from Jerusalem, to show the real depth of their grief.


For Arafat, despite his many faults, never quite reached the bottom of the reserves of affection and respect he built up with his people. Yesterday, resentment at his sloppy governance and the greed and arrogance of his court was forgotten and Palestinian Arabs put on a show of unity for the outside world.


Arafat’s status as the most important figure in Palestinian history is guaranteed. In 50 years his portrait will almost certainly still hang in many cafes and barber shops.


But few who remember the reality of his time will look back on it as the good old days. Ramallah is a monument to the hope he brought with him on his return to Gaza 10 years ago and the disillusionment that followed.


On the hillsides of this handsome, middle-class town, apartment blocks and houses stand half-finished, victims of the stasis that set in with the launching of the second intifada four years ago. The walls are daubed with images of warriors bearing grenade launchers.


Yesterday you could see the real thing as young men dressed in black and with their heads wrapped in checkered keffiyehs marched up and down – members of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the armed elements of Arafat’s Fatah. They swore revenge on Israel, which they blame for poisoning their leader.


They are renaming themselves the Martyr Yasser Arafat Brigade in his honor, they announced in Gaza. The first official utterances of the new government also referred to Arafat as a martyr, reinforcing the imagery of struggle and violence that he ceaselessly promoted.


In the poor parts of town, respect for the leader was tempered with contempt for those he surrounded himself with. “What has the Palestinian Authority done for us?” demanded Azizeh Moussa, 40. “What has it done for the families of martyrs, the handicapped, the widows, and those who have had their houses destroyed? Nothing.”


Several people seemed relieved that the revolutionary sloganizing and relentless defiance of the Arafat era might be over. “I support the halting of military operations and the beginning of negotiations,” said a barber, Mohammed Hamid. “I hope Israel will encourage us. The death of Arafat should be a step forward.”


A businessman, Rayed al-Sharaj, also wanted the violence to end. “If a Palestinian kills one Jew, the Israelis kill 100 Palestinians,” he said.


Arafat’s body will reach its burial place in a coffin cast in concrete – for easy transfer to Jerusalem at some future date if the struggle with Israel is ever resolved.


The bleak acres of the Muqata seem a strange place to conclude a glittering send-off that started in Paris and moved on to Cairo. Arafat, who loved pomp and made buying a red carpet a priority on his return to Gaza, would have been delighted with the honor shown him by France and Egypt.


But the task to which he dedicated himself is far from finished. In that respect, a concrete coffin in a dusty, industrial-looking compound seems a fitting resting place.


The New York Sun

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