AFTER ARAFAT

The burial of Arafat was a widely televised event. Many people of Bangladesh were glued to Television to watch his last rites and special prayers were offered in religious institutions. He was very popular in Bangladesh because of his love for Bangladesh. Whenever he would visit some country near Bangladesh, he would make a stop in Dhaka and he was proud to feel at home in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi people could understand his struggle for a free Palestine state, because they had to undergo also a long and bitter war of independence. Bangladesh was one of the first countries to recognize Palestine.

My take from the print & electronic media here is that, irrespective of religion and age people of Bangladesh unitedly paid there respect for Arafat refuting the claims of Israel & some of the Western countries that he was a terrorist, a monster. Some would say that he promoted Islamic Jihad and Intifada. But its baseless as he was more a christian than a Muslim. He married a Christian, and he wanted to be the leader of Palestinians irrespective of religion and race. Yes he had some draw backs, he had no control on the extremists terrorist factions, who exercised offensives against the innocent Israelis and sometimes he deferred peace agreements with a view to striking a better bargain. But he had only one goal, to establish a state for the palestinies who were driven out of their land. Those who name him terrorist ignore the fact that the Al-Qaeda recruits are brain washed with the very videos of atrocities of Israelis on innocent Palestininian civilians. Violence begets violence. Don't judge some wrong acts of terrorists as a deed of the whole nation or blame it on the leader. Don't they see where the hatred comes from? As the Jews were once brutally ethnic cleansed, oppressed in Europian countries, I fail to understand how could they turn their eyes off the plight of the Palestinians and reach some sort of a peace deal. Don't they feel the pain of being the minority?

The mutual co-existence and one-nation theory is not viable for many reasons in the current circumstances eventhough it must be hard for the Palestinians. So the two nation theory and right share of the Palestinians land has to be ensured after the era of Arafat to establish peace in that region. Bush & Blair has said with a smile that they would want a Palestine state within 4 years. It remains to be seen what is behind that smile and how the Palestini leaders lead the world events.