Uri Dan’s new book about Ariel Sharon contains some jaw-droppers. The Haaretz review written by Uri Dromi says this about Sharon’s potential involvement in Arafat’s death:
Dan reveals a little and conceals much when he hints that Arafat’s death was not caused by any illness. He himself suggested to Sharon that Arafat be captured and brought to trial in Jerusalem, like Eichmann, but Sharon reassured him that he was dealing with the problem in his own way. Then Arafat fell ill, was flown to Paris for treatment and died. Was Sharon involved? This is what Dan wrote then in Maariv that in the history books prime minister Ariel Sharon will be remembered as the man who eliminated Yasser Arafat without killing him. Let every reader figure it out for himself.
Indeed. I remember several years ago when Ehud Olmert was Sharon’s right-hand man and threatened Arafat with assassination in the pages of the Jerusalem Post. I had the strange feeling that if Sharon & Co. were willing to threaten to do it they were fully prepared to do it. Now, it appears they figured out a way to do it that would eliminate their fingerprints. Perhaps a Polonium cocktail??
Then there is this edifying passage about our manly president and his wish to butt fuck Osama bin Laden:
Speaking of George Bush, with whom Sharon developed a very close relationship, Uri Dan recalls that Sharon’s delicacy made him reluctant to repeat what the president had told him when they discussed Osama bin Laden. Finally he relented. And here is what the leader of the Western world, valiant warrior in the battle of cultures, promised to do to bin Laden if he caught him: “I will screw him in the ass!”
How nice. Somehow, along with Matt Yglesias, I wonder whether the original translation of Dromi’s Hebrew (and what Bush actually said in English) might’ve been a little stronger than “screw.”
Rumors of AIDS have also been floated. If Israel assassinated Arafat, would France want to expose the details? It would give France further credibility in the Arab world. Also, why did Yasser and Suha live apart for the last few years of Yasser’s life?
Precisely right: “floated” as in planted to discredit Arafat & the Palestinians. I find it far more likely, especially considering Dan’s trusted relationship with Sharon that the latter had him murdered. The only question is ‘how?’
You havent addressed one of Spyros’ main points. If Israel had poisoned Arafat, why wouldnt the French do everything possible to publicize that fact? Also, why take him to a French hospitla in the first place? There are excellent facilities in Egypt or Saudi Arabia.
Richard:
“Precisely right: “floated” as in planted to discredit Arafat & the Palestinians.”
Brings to mind the attempts to discredit Arafat by “floating” rumours about his alleged homosexuality.
Yes, I think the AIDS allegation above is an attempt to kill 2 of those birds w. one stone. A. he’s gay (allegedly) & B. he’s got AIDS. Doubly evil, at least in the minds of anti-Palestinians.
Hi Richard, (can I still call you Richard, now you’ve been in the Guardian? :> )
I always thought there was a good chance that Arafat had been poisoned, because of the failed assassination attempt on Khalid Mishal in Amman in Sept 1997. Mishal was saved because his would-be assassins were spotted administering the poison, which had been specially developed at the Israel Institute for Biological Research in Nes Ziona. So the Jordanians knew immediately they were dealing with a case of poisoning, and threatened to put the two Mossad agents who did it on trial if Netanyahu didn’t supply the antedote. Apparently, without knowing he was poisoned, the doctors treating Mishal would simply have been facing a case of unexplained heart failure. I wondered about that when Arafat died, and the French doctors couldn’t seem to find any cause.
Uri Avnery and Danny Rubinstein too are both convinced that Arafat was poisoned, though Rubinstein says he never writes about it, because people think it’s just a conspiracy theory. I suppose that’s why I never thought of blogging about it either – I always assumed it would be one of those things that would only ever come to light decades down the road when some secret Israeli govt document became declassified.
Other than feeling a little jazzed by it, I don’t feel much diff. so yes, you can still call me Richard.
Meshal is lucky they used a poison which HAS an antidote & that the agents were captured. At least Jordan had something to bargain with. Polonium has no antidote as poor Litvinenko found out.
Perhaps he was poisoned by gefilte fish. I understand that non-Jews cannot tolerate gefilte fish. Still would like to know why he spent years apart from Suha, other than Paris on $100,000 a month is more comfy than the Mukata
I wonder why you’re more concerned about the personal life & alleged corruption of Suha Arafat when you’ve got more than enough scandals concerning Israel’s prime minister, who has been enriching himself in varioius diff. schemes at the public trough.