ARAFAT: I CAN BE LIKE MANDELA.

[IL CAPO]

Cairo - Veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said that like South Africa's Nelson Mandela he aims to lead his people to independence before finally handing over power, in a newspaper interview published on Tuesday.

 

"I am ready to be the Nelson Mandela of palestine. I agree, but only after the establishment of a Palestinian state which I will preside over to start with and then leave to others," he told the London-based Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat.

 

Arafat said he would in any case bow to the decisions of the Palestinian leadership at large over whether to run in elections planned for next year.

 

"Whatever the Palestinian leadership decides, I accept. After all, I will not impose myself, and Abu Ammar commits himself to (respect) whatever decision is taken by the Palestinian leadership," he said, using his own nom-de-guerre.

 

In 1994, Mandela became the first elected president of post-apartheid South Africa. He stepped five years later in keeping with a pledge to serve only a single term.

 

 

P.S Mr Arafat, don't forget Mr Mandela wasn't a sell out and never kissed nobody's rear end so maybe you should look for someone else as a role model because Mandela is way out of your league. say Hi to Suha for me, tell her IL CAPO said Heitara and remind her to return the Dirac she borrowed from my 1st Lady Na Na Na .

Peace.

[Wiilo]

well well well well,

who is talking now, ARAFAD is talking huh, first, like u said Mandela was not sell out like ARAFAD. Arafad is the worest leader of all time, look what is going on in GAZA strip now and how many ppl are drying under his poor leadership. Arafad will never be like Mandela, and he will never lead his ppl to an independen state, so he can forget his anarowed mind of bieng the leader of Palastine. In my piont of view, i think that if he would have step down as a leader for a while, Palestine would have a new leader who could may be put in a better situtation then he ever did in his entire time as thier leader. Well, i can only say that Palastine pple deserve thier freedom and land, so Allaah bless Palastine and give thier freedom from.............Wabillaahi Towfiiq.

[LANDER]

Arafat, unfortunately like 99% of arab leaders, lacks true courage. His name doesn't belong in in a sentence with Nelson Mandela.

[NGONGE]

Eh? :eek:

 

You call him a weak leader and the Israelis call him a terrorist? Who to believe, huh? :rolleyes:

[OG_Girl]

loooooooool@NGONGE.That what I was about to say!!

 

How he is a terrorist and weak at the same time!!..please lebel the poor guy either weak or terrorist so he knows where he stands :rolleyes:

 

Salam

[Rahima]

Couldn’t he have chosen a Muslim to want to emulate?

 

We’ve had many a great leaders.

[IL CAPO]

The reason why Sharon chose to call him a "Terrorist" is because the old wanker over estimated his authority over the people of Palestine and made few false promises to the Yahood (May The Curse Of Allah fall upon them)Sharon and since he is an old baboon he fell for it and gave Arafat few hundreds of thousands like that $150,000 that his wife blew up with shoes in Paris so what Sharon meant to say was Traitor but instead said Terrorist and that is understandable because anybody who hangs out with Bush and shares few joints with him would be forgiven for adding the word Terrorist to his/her vocab.

 

so Arafat is a Traitor on both sides and never Terrorist and i am here to confirm that Arafat is only smarter than his baby (if he is the legit Dad of the kid that is).

God Bless Garissa & the rest of Somalia.

[AYOUB]

Originally posted by NGONGE:

Eh? :eek:

 

You call him a weak leader and the Israelis call him a terrorist? Who to believe, huh? :rolleyes:

The man is safe and sound while Israelis kill every other Palestinian leader. What should I believe..

 

Topic: ARAFAT: I CAN BE LIKE MANDELA.

Somebody jail him for 25 years please!

[Wiilo]

Ayuub Sheikh u are right walaal, he is living in this huge compoun with Air condions, while the rest of the Palastine ppl are out there dying, well, that is what happens when u have a leader like that.

 

Wabillaahi Towfiiq:

[LANDER]

Originally posted by NGONGE:

Eh? :eek:

 

You call him a weak leader and the Israelis call him a terrorist? Who to believe, huh? :rolleyes:

NGONGE,

 

I've gotten a taste of the inter-workings of the modern PLO from many reliable sources including some Uni friends who hail directly from the region. If you saw his decision making capabilities when confronted with specific problems, you would think he's not much different to the Israeli's greed and hunger for power. The only reason he is still tolerated is the persistance of the Israeli threats towards him and the palestinian people in general. It's very unfortunate, but the arab countries are in a sad and helpless situation at the moment as they continue to live on their knees. I'm sorry to say even the americans have more guts when you think about it. They look out for the interest of the people mercilessly and they take what they deem to be necessary decisions. The arab countries need a revolution of sort, beginning with the toppling of every weakling head of state: from the smiling cow of Egypt (Hosni Mubarak), to King Fahd and the emir of Kuwait (Jabir al-Ahmad), to Bandar bush and king Abdul of Jordan etc...they all must be removed.

[NGONGE]

Yassir Arafat

 

The above is a biography of the man on the Nobel Prize website.

 

Looking at his history not many Arab historians will dispute (not even the Israelis would, even though they might try to distort it a bit and use it as proof of his terrorist tendencies). Looking at that, I’d struggle to call the man a coward, saaxib. Even when he finally conceded and agreed to peace with the Israelis, he didn’t completely sell out. Rather he started playing the game of politics of thrusting and parrying and trying to prove to the world how untrustworthy the Israelis were (you can disagree with his policy but call him a coward or weak?). Why would the majority of the Palestinians follow a coward? Surely if he was that bad and considering the predicament they find themselves in, they would have consigned him to the pages of history long ago. Why do you think the Israelis try to discredit him and demonise him at every turn? Why do you think they’re demanding a change of leadership before they negotiate again?

 

I agree on your stance on the rest of the Arab (and Islamic) world. However I don’t think the Arafat story, in spite of his many faults, is as black and white.

[Cawralo]

He needs to do like Mandela and step off..it's ironic how his corrupt leadership keeps prosponing the elections (this spring inshAlah) and how that's supported by both Sharon and the white house. hmm :rolleyes: Labeling him as a terrorist would be to complement him, to say that he is as the likes of Sharon...Sharon has done so much for his ppl, which is more than what can be said about Arafat.

[NGONGE]

Originally posted by Cawralo:

He needs to do like Mandela and step off..it's ironic how his corrupt leadership keeps prosponing the elections (this spring inshAlah) and how that's supported by both Sharon and the white house. hmm :rolleyes: Labeling him as a terrorist would be to complement him, to say that he is as the likes of Sharon...Sharon has done so much for his ppl, which is more than what can be said about Arafat.

Nice analysis there, sis.

 

The man has many faults. Corruption is indeed rife in his “administration†but you’re implying that the West and Israel favour him! Are you being serious or have I missed the sarcasm?

 

 

Aren’t you people asking for the impossible here? Like him or hate him, you can’t deny that Arafat is synonyms wit the Palestinian struggle.

 

“In my piont of view, i think that if he would have step down as a leader for a while, Palestine would have a new leader who could may be put in a better situtation then he ever did in his entire time as thier leader.â€

How did you make this opinion of yours? You’re basing it on his entire time as leader, which implies that you were not satisfied with all that he did to organise the Palestinian struggle and fight the Israelis home and abroad. What exactly do you think that a new leader will bring that Arafat didn’t have? Fighting? Political know-how? Empty promises? Arab and world lobbying? Total and utter belief in the Palestinian cause? Arafat has all these and then some.

 

Ayuub Sheikh u are right walaal, he is living in this huge compoun with Air condions, while the rest of the Palastine ppl are out there dying, well, that is what happens when u have a leader like that.

Erm, he’s the leader of his people who the Israeli’s would love to assassinate, where would you have him live?

 

 

Lander,

 

As I said, I agree on the Arab leader’s weakness and corruption. However, I have my reservations as regards to their courage. The last twenty years have been a disaster for the Arab world. But, if we’re being generous and try to extend a bit of justification their way, we could say that they’ve given up after losing three wars with the Israelis and their allies (not forgetting the infamous Oil crisis). In the case of Arafat, there are even more excuses to be made. He’s a leader of a people with no land. He has no real power to defeat the Israelis with. He’s been let down by most Arab leaders in the past twenty years. He got old and tired, etc..

 

 

This business of defending everything and everyone is getting tiresome. I wish, for once, to get a topic where I could agree with the general sentiment and go on the attack too (maybe I’m just naturally argumentative).

[Cawralo]

NGONGE, I didn't say that they favour him, I said that Sharon and the white house support his prosponing of the palestinian elections - which they do. Sharon is extremly against a new palestinian election. The white house seem to share his view, since when Ahmed Qurea asked the states for help in holding a new election last spring - the white house said no. Which makes you think..why? Wouldn't that be something to add to the list "acheiving democracy in the mideast"..sounds good..and so much easier that in most other countries. The simple answer is that they want the corrupt leadership to stay in power. This way, both isreal and the us can go about saying that there isn't someone to negotiate with.

[NGONGE]

So, in your mind’s eye a Palestinian election is what’s needed to sort everything out and give legitimacy to the Palestinian cause? The issue of the “corruption†of Arafat is what’s holding up progress, right?

I suppose you already think that the 1996 elections that were overwhelmingly won by Arafat were also corrupted, which would beg the question of why another corrupted election is needed! Maybe the answer would be to have Israeli observes overseeing this new election and making sure it’s fair and transparent, eh?

 

This side issue still doesn't explain why Arafat is such a bad guy though!

 

PS

I apologise for seeming to chase you from thread to thread I just find your opinions interestingly intriguing and would like to hear more of them (no sarcasm intended).