Operation Cast Lead really touched a nerve at The Independent. Editors gave op-ed space to a terrorist — and a dead one at that. What possessed the paper to reprint an edited extract of Yasser Arafat's 1974 UN speech?
The man went to the grave a discredited terrorist whose deeds never remotely matched his flowery words of peace. Among other things:
- His PLO fired hundreds of rockets at northern Israel's communities.
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He ordered the execution of US diplomats.
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Made Saddam Hussein his sugar daddy.
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Lined his wallet with foreign aid.
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Made no secret of his intentions in speeches in Stockholm and Johannesburg.
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Had hands-on involvement in Palestinian terror attacks.
Looking back on Arafat's speech, you can only laugh at him (and now The Independent's editors) as you read the words:
Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand. I repeat: do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.
Olive branch? Freedom fighter?
Hardly.
