Rejoice not

Uri Avnery

"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be 
glad when he stumbleth, Lest the Lord see it, and it displease 
him." This biblical injunction (Proverbs 24:17) is one of 
the most profound Jewish moral tenets.

In this connection, Israel is very far from being a "Jewish 
State", as it likes to define itself. The disgusting filth poured 
out over Yasser Arafat during the last few days in practically 
all the Israeli media makes one ashamed to be an Israeli.

The demonisation of the Palestinian national leader, which has 
been the centre-piece of Israeli propaganda for decades, 
continues even after his death. It seems that 37 years as 
occupiers have bestialised our society and left it bereft even of 
common decency. Ministers and fishmongers, TV icons and 
university professors, "leftists" and outright fascists tried to 
outdo each other in utter vulgarity.

Never was the huge gap in the perceptions of the two peoples more 
striking than on the day of Arafat's funeral. While Israeli 
commentators and "experts on Arab affairs" — almost all of them 
veterans of the various intelligence agencies — described the 
late leader as a veritable monster, the epitome of cruelty, 
viciousness and corruption — a hundred thousand grief-stricken 
mourners in Ramallah exploded in a burst of emotions that nearly 
threw the funeral into pandemonium. If the Israeli army had not 
surrounded and isolated all Palestinian towns that day, more than 
a million people would have been there.

Gush Shalom, the only Israeli organisation that openly mourned 
alongside the Palestinian people, decided to send a delegation to 
the funeral. All of us activists, women and men, wore on our 
breast a big sticker displaying the Israeli and Palestinian 
flags.

The sheer pressure of the multitude split us up among the crowd. 
Throughout the hours of the funeral, we felt completely safe, 
even when thousands of shots were fired around us into the air to 
express grief and bereavement. We encountered hundreds of 
expressions of gratitude and friendship from Palestinians of all 
ages and stations in life.

I was in the middle of the melee when the helicopter bearing the 
coffin arrived from Cairo. Standing beside the grave among the 
Palestinian ministers, religious dignitaries and diplomats, I was 
vividly aware of the intense emotions of the huge crowd around us 
when the helicopter touched down. I remembered the scene of Gamal 
Abd-al-Nasser's funeral in 1970, when the masses surged forward 
and literally captured the body of their beloved leader from the 
soldiers, and felt that this was going to happen here at any 
moment. And it did.

No Arab leader — and very few world leaders — evoke such 
profound love and admiration among their people as this man, whom 
Israelis consider a veritable monster in human form. The 
Palestinians trusted him, relied on him, let him make all the big 
decisions that demanded courage, derived from him the strength to 
defy the intolerable conditions under a brutal occupation. Now, 
suddenly, incredibly, they found themselves alone, like orphaned 
waifs, in a world changed by the death of a man who left a huge 
gap behind him.

What will happen now? Arafat has brought his people from the edge 
of oblivion to the threshold of independence. But the battle for 
liberation is still far from over. The new leadership will have 
to face all the problems that confronted Arafat, without the 
towering authority of Arafat.

Abu Mazen, Abu-Ala and their colleagues are upright, decent 
people. I have known them for years, mostly from meetings with 
Arafat. But they have no deep roots in their people. It may be 
years before a strong leadership emerges.

At the moment, the Palestinians are united in their resolve to 
show the world that they can overcome this crisis in a civilised 
and responsible manner. This could have been a chance for Israel 
(and the United States, of course) to open a new chapter in 
relations with the Palestinian people.

What could have been done? Well, there should have been a show of 
goodwill with such gestures as the mass release of Palestinian 
prisoners, including the much respected Fatah leader Marwan 
Barghouti, who has been sentenced to serve five consecutive life 
sentences. Sieges should have been lifted and army operations at 
least reduced. Peace negotiations should have been announced for 
the near future.

The first test was, of course, the funeral itself. Arafat should 
have been buried in Jerusalem, according to his wishes. His 
interment in Ramallah will only strengthen the resolve of the 
Palestinians to fight until they are able to re-bury him there. 
The Minister of Justice, Tommy Lapid, an extreme rightist posing 
as a liberal, reached new heights of vulgarity when he declared 
that "Jewish Kings, not Arab terrorists, are buried in 
Jerusalem". Well, Menachem Begin, a terrorist who became a "king" 
and was buried in Jerusalem, could have served as a precedent.

But the most important thing is to enable the Palestinians to 
hold elections within 60 days of the death of the President, as 
their constitution demands. Actually, my last conversation with 
Arafat, a few weeks ago (when, by the way, he looked quite 
healthy) concerned elections. We agreed that they are 
impracticable while the Israeli army routinely assassinates 
potential candidates and makes movement between towns and 
villages almost impossible. How will candidates — if they remain 
alive — canvass their voters? How will they distribute material, 
hold meetings and debate policies, with tanks in the background 
and helicopter gun-ships hovering overhead?

This situation must be changed at once. All troops must be 
withdrawn at least from the areas under the jurisdiction of the 
Palestinian Authority (so-called Areas A and B, according to the 
Oslo agreements), freedom of movement restored, the assassination 
campaign stopped and, most importantly, international observers 
invited.

Will this happen? Probably not. Ariel Sharon has absolutely no 
interest in sitting opposite a democratically elected leadership 
enjoying international legitimacy and respect, perhaps even 
weakening his control over President Bush and obstructing his 
plan for the annexation of most of the West Bank. He will do 
everything to prevent elections, and, of course, blame the 
Palestinians.

As always, it is advisable to ignore what Sharon says — and pay 
close attention.

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Yuri Avnery is a leading Israeli peace activist.
Gush Shalom http://www.gush-shalom.org