M I D - E A S T   R E A L I T I E S  -  Q U O T E OF THE WEEK

To the Editor:

Re your Jan. 17 front-page article on the approval of the Hebron accord: Since the Oslo agreements were signed in 1993, Palestinians have lost more land to Israeli expropriations and are vastly poorer. They cannot move around, and because of Yasir Arafat's tyrannical regime they live without any democratic freedoms at all.

Moreover, nothing in the "peace process" envisages any Palestinian sovereignty or repatriation of the 55 percent of the population who exist as refugees. The "autonomy" granted residents of the West Bank and Gaza by Israel relieves Israel of the bother of dealing with their municipal affairs. The Israeli Army is still in command, the settlements and armed settlers increase in number, annexed Jerusalem amounts to 25 percent of the West Bank, so much so that Palestinian autonomy -- confined to the bantustans of the seven largest towns whose entrances and exits are controlled by Israel and whose total area is about 4 percent of the West Bank -- is an indirect way of continuing the occupation.

Such facts do not normally appear in the United States news media, which have decided to celebrate "peace" no matter what the truth is, and to exclude dissenting voices who believe in a real peace between two equal peoples.

EDWARD W. SAID New York, Jan. 17, 1997

[Foreword and translation from original Hebrew by Professor Israel Shahak (Hebrew University)]:

Arafat’s regime gets worse and worse, both in its violations of human rights and Arafat’s megalomania. At the same time, Netanyahu is trying to humiliate Arafat in all respects and Clinton does not care (or has no time) to intervene. These include matters which are much more important to Arafat than, for example, the increasing poverty of the Palestinians. This combination of increasing oppression of the Palestinians by Arafat in close cooperation with Israel, with daily humiliation of Arafat (who in my view deserves all he gets) is politically explosive.

The Israeli soldiers manning one of the check points leading to the Gaza Strip have been recently surprised by the quantities of cement brought through it from Israel which have enormously increased. Finally, the secret leaked out. The cement is intended for Arafat’s bunker, modeled after the one serving Saddam Hussein and, like the Iraqi one, is due to extend four floors under the surface of the earth. The bunker is equipped with ventilators designed to stop poison gas and has its own power supply.

Another new possession which Arafat received lately did not cost him any money. The school children of Gaza are being taken to view -- from a distance -- the two helicopters that President Mubarak gave Arafat a few weeks ago. They replace two former helicopters, Saddam Hussein’s gift, which had to be discarded because automotive fuel instead of airplane fuel had been used several times in operating them. Arafat’s honored guests, especially clan heads from poor Palestinian villages are being taken to see them inside and they emerge duly impressed. The luxury inside is not lesser than in any five star Cairo hotel beloved by Saudi princess. All the walls are covered by mahogany wood with gold ornaments. The floor is covered by expensive carpet, a gold plated tea table can be rolled to every seat, the chairs are sumptuously decorated. Western visitors only are shown a hidden feature: a panel opens a bar full of choice drinks.

One wonders whether the British, French and other European ambassadors in Israel, who have lately visited Arafat in Gaza to tell him about the European decision to grant more money to the Palestinian Authority, were shown the new helicopters and the bunker.

Yediot Ahronot, 11/21/1996

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