THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS: ABBAS - THE SO-CALLED MODERATE - UNVEILS A MONUMENT TO ARAFAT (WHICH IS ALSO A MONUMENT TO U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT TREACHERY)

Sunday, November 11, 2007

ABBAS - THE SO-CALLED MODERATE - UNVEILS A MONUMENT TO ARAFAT (WHICH IS ALSO A MONUMENT TO U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT TREACHERY)

Saturday's dedication of the mausoleum, on the third anniversary of Arafat's death, was meant to boost Abbas' legitimacy as he faces a stiff challenge from the rival Hamas. The Islamic militant group, which violently seized control of Gaza from Abbas' security forces in June, maintains Abbas has no mandate to negotiate with Israel on behalf of the Palestinians.

However, Hamas has not dared to criticize Arafat's policies, including his involvement in peace talks, since his death on Nov. 11, 2004, instead embracing him as a national symbol. In Gaza, an Arafat memorial rally on Monday is expected to draw the largest crowd of supporters of Abbas' Fatah movement since Hamas' takeover. On Saturday, Fatah supporters held several marches in Gaza, and Hamas police did not intervene.

Arafat died at 75 in a French military hospital, after spending his final years under Israeli siege at his West Bank headquarters. The exact cause of death remains unknown, fueling persistent rumors that he was poisoned or died of AIDS. Israel has denied involvement in his death.

The mausoleum, made of glass and beige Jerusalem stone, is surrounded on three sides by water, and a piece of railroad track is entombed underneath Arafat's grave. The water and track are meant to symbolize the temporary nature of the burial site, officials said, with Palestinians planning to rebury their former leader one day in Jerusalem, their hoped-for capital.

A mosque has been built next to the tomb, and an Arafat museum is to open at the site next year. The memorial complex will cost $1.75 million, paid for by public funds, said Mohammed Ishtayeh, head of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction, which oversees the project.

In unveiling the mausoleum, Abbas said he would press ahead with Arafat's quest for statehood. "We are continuing the path, continuing the pledge, to establish an independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital, God willing," said Abbas.

The fate of the city, claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians as a capital, is one of the most explosive issues in the upcoming peace talks.

On Sunday, tens of thousands are expected at the compound to mark Arafat's death, followed by the Gaza rally on Monday. Spreading out the commemorations over three days appeared part of Abbas' attempt to harness Arafat's legacy in the face of the upcoming challenges.

THE ARAFAT LEGACY IS MURDER AND TERROR AND IMMORALITY - BOTH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.

ARAFAT WAS A SERIAL MURDERER, A COWARD - (WHO RAN FROM JORDANA AND LEBANON AND HID IN TUNIS AND THEN RAMALLAH), A QUEER - WHO DIED FROM AIDS, A THIEF ON MASSIVE SCALE - STEALING HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS MEANT TO AID HIS FOLLOWERS.

THE US STATE DEPARTMENT HAS BEEN AND CONTINUES TO BE AN ACCESSORY AFTER THE FACT; POWER LINE:

July 16, 2003 - What the cables say: Arafat murdered Noel

When we last heard from the State Department in yesterday's post regarding the brutal 1973 assassinations of U.S. Ambassador to Sudan Cleo Noel and charge d'affaires George Curtis Moore, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs deputy director of press affairs Gregory Sullivan spoke on behalf of the department.

Sullivan conceded that "[e]vidence clearly points to the terrorist group Black September as having committed the assassinations[.]"

This is not much of a concession; the eight Black September terrorists who executed the operation had themselves proclaimed their membership in Black September at the time of the operation and after they surrendered to Sudanese authorities on March 3, 1973.

Sullivan indignantly denied, however, that the evidence linked Yasser Arafat to the operation. According to Sullivan, "though Black September was a part of the Fatah movement, the linkage between Arafat and this group has never been established."

On its face, this claim is suspect. In 1973, as now, Arafat was the undisputed leader of Fatah. But seen in the light of the contemporaneous State Department cables that have now been declassified and released by the State Department in response to my Freedom of Information Act request, Sullivan's statement is both false and inexplicable.

The cables reflect the intense concern within the department regarding the security issues raised by the Khartoum operation. The department received reports from its embassies and missions conveying the results of intelligence inquiries and the Secretary of State (William Rogers) himself promptly disseminated his conclusions regarding responsiblity for the operation based on these reports and other intellligence sources.

Contary to Sullivan's assertions, the cables demonstrate that in March 1973 the State Department had promptly concluded that Black September was nothing more than a front for Fatah and that Arafat himself had directed the operation resulting in the assassination of Noel and Moore. Both points are made over and over again in the cables to and from the Secretary of State.

To take one example, in March the U.S Mission in Vienna reported to Secretary Rogers: "The Black September Organization (BSO) is a cover term for Fatah's terrorist operations executed by Fatah's intelligence organization, Jihaz al-Rasd...For all intents and purposes no significant distinction now can be made between the BSO and Fatah...Fatah leader Yasir Arafat has now been described in recent intelligence as having given approval to the Khartoum operation prior to its inception."

As the department came to its conclusions regarding the ultimate resonsbility for the operation, it dispatched its representatives to meet with sympathetic governments and attempt to persuade them to take appropriate precautionary measures. The American ambassador to Tunisia, for example, met with the then-Tunisian President Bourguiba on March 10 to convey the department's concerns about Fatah in light of the Black September Khartoum operation: "I referred to Sudanese government's revelation that head of Fatah office in Khartoum masterminded Khartoum assassinations...I noted that there is Fatah office in almost every Arab capital operating openly and, in light of Khartoum tragedy, this has clear implications."

On March 13 Secretary Rogers issued a comprehensive cable summarizing the department's conclusions and sent the cable to American embassies around the world. (I was provided a copy of this cable by Jim Welsh. Although the cable lacks any FOIA release data -- Welsh appears to have obtained it through sources of his own -- it closely tracks the language and conclusions of the cables released to me by the department.) Secretary Rogers' cable states: "Question of link between Black September Organization (BSO) has been subject of much public discussion since murder of U.S. diplomats in Khartoum. Fatah leader Arafat has disavowed connection with BSO..."

The cable then attributes the following paragraphs to an intelligence brief prepared by the department and the CIA: "The Black September Organization (BSO) is a cover term for Fatah's terrorist operations executed by Fatah's intelligence organization...Fatah funds, facilities, and personnel are used in these operations...

"For all intents and purposes no siginificant distinction now can be made between the BSO and Fatah...Fatah leader Yasir Arafat has now been described in recent intelligence as having given approval to the Khartoum operation prior to its inception."

Why does the department cover up for the chief assassin of its officers thirty years after the fact? Intelligent observers such as Daniel Pipes (in his review of Assassination in Khartoum) have offered informed speculation in answer to this question. The State Department's records themselves provide no ground whatsoever to challenge the premise of the question -- indeed, they corroborate it, and they further provide much reason to think about what the answer could be.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A PALESTINIAN PEOPLE; THEY ARE ARABS WHO ARE PART OF THE UMMAH WITH NO SEPARATE UNIQUE CULTURE OR LANGUAGE.

THE PLO WAS FOUNDED IN 1964 - BEFORE THE 1967 WAR, AND BEFORE ISRAEL "OCCUPIED" ANY NON-ISRAELI TERRITORY. THE PLO MEANT THEN AND MEANS NOW TO "LIBERATE" ALL OF WHAT WAS ONCE PALESTINE - AND THAT ALSO ORIGINALLY MEANT TAKING OVER JORDAN, WHICH WAS ALSO PART OF BRITISH PALESTINE.

YOU CANNOT BUILD A PEACEFUL FUTURE ON A FOUNDATION OF LIES - LIES TOLD BY MURDEROUS SCUM.