Another courageous article by
Khaled Abu Toameh, defying the PA's pressure on journalists to hide the truth of the lack of enthusiasm for the memory of Yasser Arafat. In this case I have quoted selectively because I am highlighting the parts that I find interesting or important. Additionally, while Toameh is brave,
he does not have a death wish. A link to the source is provided, of course, for those who prefer to read it all.
the general feeling is that his memory is rapidly fading away - a mere year after his death....Asked if she was planning to attend the memorial service in the Mukata, Rasha Shaheen, a university student from Ramallah, replied: "We want to look forward, not backward. We loved Arafat as a symbol, but more and more people are beginning to realize that this is a man who led us from one disaster to another over the past 40 years."
Of course, such reactions never make their way into the PA-controlled media, despite the fact that these are not lone voices in the desert. Nor do they appear in most of the foreign media because many people still think that it's wrong to "hang dirty laundry in public"....Consequently, the only statements that appeared in the PA and the foreign media this week were those of Palestinians heaping praise on Arafat and his legacy. Palestinian writers used almost all available accolade to describe Arafat: "lion," "eagle," "symbol," "hero," "genius." "Some people miss Yasser Arafat because they see Abu Mazen [Abbas] as a total failure," said Hassan Lam'ah, a lawyer from Nablus. "What has Abu Mazen done for the people? Nothing at all!"
What is most disturbing for many Palestinians is the growing state of anarchy and lawlessness that has plagued the PA-ruled areas since Arafat's death. More than 250 Palestinians have been killed in domestic violence since Abbas took over, prompting many Palestinians to demand immediate action against local gangs. But the main problem that Abbas faces is that most of the gangsters roaming the streets of the West Bank and Gaza Strip are not from Hamas or Islamic Jihad, but are members of the PA security forces and his ruling Fatah party.
"Today the situation is in a quagmire; the Palestinian territory is under anarchy which is heading toward the level that can be described as the 'Somalia model....Political factions and militia do as they please; the cities and towns are divided into vandalizing feudal Lords with the absence of law and order. The Palestinian security forces do not control - and in some cases were themselves involved - in a number of incidents of misused force, only adding to the sense of total chaos"....No wonder, then, that a growing number of Palestinians have begun looking back with nostalgia to Arafat's days.
