Arafat’s Death

Over many assassination attempts over the decades, a week in a coma and a cold night in France brought peace to Yasser Arafat on Thursday, November 11, 2004. He died in his wife’s arms; his years of pain disappeared in a gentle touch and eternal agony was turned into everlasting peace. Arafat was flown back to Cairo, and as thousands mourned, while the rest looked upon his death as an opportunity for peace. “With our soul, with our blood, we will support you, Abu Ammar (Arafat),” chanted supporters on Thursday in Egypt.
For a man whose rise occurred over generations and carried many on his shoulders for years, Arafat’s name appeared as bread to the hungry. What can be said about a man whose goodness did not consist of greatness, but his greatness was in his goodness? All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as mysterious. “The death of Arafat could mark a historic turning point for the Middle East,” Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel, said Thursday. President George W. Bush, who had dismissed Arafat as having failed to bring peace to the region, said he hoped his death would lead to an upturn in Palestinian fortunes. John Paul Richer once said, “Man’s feelings are always purest and most glowing in the hour of meeting and of farewell.” Yasser Arafat was a terrorist to many, but one should never speak ill of the dead; it is better to remember them for the good that they brought.