Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been calling for the expulsion from Ramallah of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasir Arafat. In fact, at the Likud convention earlier this month, Netanyahu promised that one of the first things he would do as prime minister would be to send Arafat into exile.
Not that Netanyahu’s is a lone voice – for years now there have been plenty of voices on the Israeli Right urging Arafat’s expulsion. The Yesha Council (of towns in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza) even organized a rally in Jerusalem in October 2001 with the slogan ”Expel Arafat, Fight Terror.”
But there are contrary opinions. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, for example, has stated his opposition to expelling Arafat, agreeing with Prime Minister Sharon that such a move isn’t worth risking good relations with the United States.
There are still other voices heard from – commentators and politicians who do not want Arafat expelled or left alone. Some of the latter have suggested that Arafat be tried for murder – perhaps in an Eichmann-like manner to expose him to the world – or simply killed.
The National Religious Party’s Effi Eitam, after calling for a trial, was later moved say, “Take him out and shoot him.” MK Michael Kleiner said that the army should have “bombed Arafat’s compound in Ramallah with him inside.” And Prof. Steven Plaut has asked, “So what does Israel have to lose from killing Arafat?”
From my perspective, the absolutely worst idea in the bunch (and I think leaving him alone is pretty bad) is that of expelling him. I’ll tell you why. Because once he’s in ”exile,” Arafat will be right back where he started: Free from Israel’s control to campaign for a Palestinian state; free to play ”victim”; free to organize terror acts on a scale yet unknown.
Why should Israel give him that kind of freedom? And what if, at a later date, a different type of government came to power in Israel and brought Arafat back again (like Rabin did with Hamas in 1992-93)? Will we again have to watch televised images of Arafat’s triumphant return to ”Palestine”? Forget it! There is another solution.
I’ll admit that Israel hasn’t been too smart in dealing with Arafat. When we had him locked up in the Mukatah compound for months, we should have cut all access to the media and visitors. Heck, in the Middle Ages, they would have just dumped him in a dungeon (if they didn’t kill him).
The idea of a dungeon resonates. Had Arafat been locked away for an appreciable length of time, without any sight or sound of him, new leaders would have arisen to fill the power vacuum. That’s how to make him irrelevant.
Contrast that to letting him roam free in ”exile.” The only thing beneficial to sending him out of the country would be if Israel intended to quietly ”bump him off” and make it look like another Arab/Islamic state or terror group did it.
Let me state clearly that I do not support the extra-judicial killing of Arafat. But if there should arise an Israeli prime minister ready to take unprecedented heat from the world community for expelling Arafat, then let that prime minister instead use his political strength and moral courage to arrest Arafat for crimes against humanity (i.e. Jews, Lebanese, Americans, and others).
Arafat would then ? like Eichmann ? be tried in Jerusalem, and ? again, like Eichmann ? be put to death. An example of how to deal with terrorism would be made of him, to the world, in the bright light of day, in the dawn of Israel’s new beginning.
(For the squeamish among you, always bear in mind that no matter how much the world screams foul, in two weeks there are new headlines.)
Opinions may differ about what should be done with Arafat, but the one thing Israel must never do is force him into what would undoubtedly become the most self-serving of exiles. For the reasons stated above, Do Not Expel Arafat.