Soccer Dad

Palestine needs you yasser truman

JudeoPundit links to an absurd statement by Uri Avnery.

"If Arafat were alive, what's happening now in Gaza wouldn't be happening"--"If Arafat were alive, we would have somebody to talk with"--"If Arafat were alive, Islamic fundamentalism would not have won among the Palestinians and would have lost some force in the neighboring countries!"

(And read Judeopundit's song satire - great stuff.)

Of course the truth is that Arafat is likely responsible for a lot of what's going on now. Back in 1997 Graham Usher wrote Arafat Revives Tribal Power

"Since the PA was installed in 1994, Arafat has based his rule on two crucial constituencies. One was his Fatah movement, many of whose cadres were absorbed into the PA's burgeoning and often lawless security forces. But the other was Arafat's deliberate reempowerment of Palestine's traditional or tribal families, like the Abu Samhadanahs or, for that matter, the Al-Dhairs. In Rafah, the two constituencies have become one, with tribal and political loyalties so interwoven as to be inseparable.

Of course with Arafat gone those loyalties are gone too and the rivalries have come to the surface. More on this at My Right Word.

Blogdigger tags: Arafat, Palestinians, Clans.