Local Mideast experts express hope, fear over Arafat's passing

By TERRI JO RYAN (Waco) Tribune-Herald staff writer
11/12/04

When the state of Israel was formed in 1948, a young Palestinian engineering student was so despondent he applied for an American visa that would enable him to attend the University of Texas.

But Yasser Arafat, then 19, recovered from the despair suffered by the military defeat of the Arab enemies of the new Jewish nation. He returned to Cairo and his books. Instead of becoming an adopted Texan, the son of a textile merchant went on to become chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, a post he held for 35 years.

Now his death is sparking global discussions of his legacy. Some of that debate is going on in the heart of Texas Arafat almost called home.

Marc Ellis, director of the Center for American and Jewish Studies at Baylor University, said Arafat will be remembered among his people and most of the world as a leader, albeit a flawed one, who sometimes resorted to violence to have his say, "like other leaders in the region."

"But we owe it to ourselves and the Palestinians to step back and recognize his importance in their history as a sign of respect," Ellis said.

Ellis believes America is making a mistake by sending no higher an American official to today's state funeral than U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns.

"We have a unique opportunity to engage the new Palestinian leadership and their people here," he said. "You can recognize and affirm the dignity of the others without agreeing with them on all things."

Arafat's death presents a period of opportunity and hope that two peoples shattered by history might find a new way of living together and, in the future, heal old wounds, Ellis said.

"Let us seize the moment for a new day," he said.

Less hopeful is Al Siddiq, president of the Islamic Center of Waco.

"As far as Arafat's death is concerned, there are many Arafats waiting to take his place," he said. "(Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon is another hurdle in the peace process. Unless the United States becomes an honest peace broker, I don't see any changes."

Rabbi Gordon Fuller of Congregation Agudath-Jacob, the Conservative synagogue of Waco, declined comment on Arafat's death. But Rabbi Mordechai Rotem, spiritual leader of Temple Rodef Sholom, the Reform synagogue of Waco, wasn't as reticent.

"There is no reason for the world to mourn the death of Arafat," he said. "He is a symbol for the Palestinians but has not done much good beyond being a symbol, neither to his own people nor for the region."

Arafat became "president" of the Palestinian authority, but it didn't make him less of a terrorist, Rotem said. Even after signing the Oslo Accord that promised peace, Arafat continued supporting suicide attacks by Palestinians on Israeli civilians, he said.

"His hands are just as dirty with the blood of the innocent as bin Laden's hands," Rotem said.

Rotem said his hope is that Arafat's successors will prove capable of preventing more bloodshed in the Middle East, including among the different factions of Palestinians.

"I pray that God gives them the wisdom to find inroads to a comprehensive peace that will enable both the Israelis and the Palestinians to concentrate on what is really important: living a decent, peaceful life and creating a better future for the next generation," he said.

Bill Baker, a Baylor University professor of modern languages, said most Palestinians have not known any other leader than Arafat.

"Arafat was the founder of the PLO in the mid-1960's and he was their leader for the past four decades," said Baker, fluent in Arabic and Hebrew. "To the Palestinians, he is like our George Washington. Even Palestinians and Arabs who aren't followers of the PLO acknowledge him as the founder and father of the Palestinian Arabs."

Baker has more than the usual academic interest in geo-political and religious-ethnic conflict. He grew up in Israel as the child of Southern Baptist missionaries and is the author of The Cultural Heritage of Arabs, Islam and the Middle East.

A. Christian Van Gorder, who teaches world religions at Baylor University, also stresses the frustration in Arafat's role in Middle East peace efforts. He recalls how 30 years ago the PLO chairman declared he came "bearing an olive branch and a freedom-fighter's gun."

"Thirty years later, Arafat remained one of the most ambiguous and multifaceted characters in the Middle East," Van Gorder said. "Was he a terrorist or a voice for peace? He has been both."

Palestinian Authority president since 1996, Arafat became famous for releasing hopeful declarations of peace in English and combative, hostile diatribes in Arabic for his local constituency, Van Gorder said.

"Meanwhile, the senseless killing and social chaos and poverty has ground on with unrelenting force," Van Gorder said. "He has wielded both the power to forge agreements for peace and to disrupt and harm a host of other peace initiatives."

Few others in the Middle East gained the rare opportunities he did to make peace.

"Given historic opportunities, Arafat has failed to take advantage of them," Van Gorder said. "This will be his legacy — that instead of taking bold steps toward peace and substantive reform for the Palestinian people, he chose equivocation and self-aggrandizement."

Lynn Tatum, a professor who teaches the interdisciplinary core at Baylor's Honors College, notes that Arafat was the only democratically elected leader in the Arab world.

"Therefore, I suspect that in the short term his passing will add confusion to an already chaotic situation in the Middle East," Tatum said. "For better or for worse, with Arafat in place you knew whom to talk to — or whom to ignore — if you wanted to deal with or ignore the Palestinian crisis."

Tatum asserts that Osama bin Laden's election eve videotape once again makes clear that Muslim frustration over the continuing plight of the Palestinians is the primary fuel that powers al-Qaida recruitment.

"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the core issue in the Middle East," Tatum said. "Terrorism is largely a derivative problem. If the U.S. does not quickly and energetically work with the new Palestinian leadership to ease the tragic situation of the Palestinians, we will be creating more terrorists, by political neglect, than we can eliminate by military operations."

His colleague, Mark Long, director of Middle East Studies at Baylor University, agrees Palestinans and Israelis both are in a precarious time in their joint histories.

"There is no charismatic figure waiting in the wings to take his place," Long said. Although politically capable Palestinians are around, none commands the broad allegiance of the majority.

The lack of such a figure with whom the United States can negotiate "vastly complicates our efforts at helping broker a just and lasting peace for both Israelis and Palestinians," Long said. "The possibility of violence in the interim is high, especially in the Gaza Strip."

The best scenario he can envision is a shared leadership arrangement that could bridge the interim period until new elections take place.

"A stable West Bank and Gaza is clearly in the best interest of the Israelis and that can happen only if a new leadership, one that arises from within, is allowed to develop," Long said. "Long term, there must be an economically viable, fully sovereign Palestinian state, while at the same time mechanisms are developed to ensure the security of Israelis."

For such things to happen, he said, the United States must be involved.

Terri Jo Ryan can be reached at tjryan@wacotrib.com or 757-5746.