Ten years after Yasser Arafat received a Nobel Peace Prize, the Jerusalem Post contacted members of the Norwegian award committee and found them still defensive about the choice. The committee members continue to maintain that the primary reason for the collapse of the Oslo peace efforts was the Rabin assassination, and not Palestinian terror. But that argument doesn’t stand up, considering the various ways Israeli-Arab relations have thawed since Arafat’s death, as recently described in the San Francisco Chronicle, AP, Maariv, and Haaretz, as well these New York Times and Washington Post staff editorials. Even columnist Georgie Anne Geyer guardedly admits the Mideast is starting to look more hopeful.
Perhaps Nobel committee members will reconsider their defense of Arafat after reading this commentary by Natan Sharansky.
