Arafat is dead. Now, let's kill his myths

Submitted by Salomon Benzimra (Canada), Nov 10, 2004 at 01:40

Since the 1960s, Arafat has been building the myth of a "Palestinian people". The whole Palestinian narrative has been expanded ever since: dispossessed of their lands; humiliated by the Israelis; colonized by 'illegal' settlements, etc.

Now that the mastermind is dead (or just about), what Israel has to do is to deconstruct all the fallacies he has forged. A good starting point would be to question the very notion of "occupation", and there are solid historic and legal arguments to knock down this notion. You knock down "occupation" and the whole "Palestinian" narrative crumbles. Once the matter of land is settled, then we can negotiate about the status of the non-Jewish people living in it.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".