Israel Is Blowback Central

I think we got the idea to set up the Mujahideen from Mossad, or something. Way too "clever by half" to be our own idea.

Uri Avnery notes in the Guardian,

Just before he died last month, Uri Dan, Ariel Sharon's loyal mouthpiece for almost 50 years, published a book in France. It includes a report of a conversation Sharon told him about, with President Bush. Sharon asked for permission to kill Arafat and Bush gave it to him, with the proviso that it must be done undetectably. When Dan asked Sharon whether it had been carried out, Sharon answered: "It's better not to talk about that." Dan took this as confirmation. [ . . . ]

Is there proof Arafat was murdered by Israeli or other agents? No, there is none. This week I again ran into Zahalka, and both of us concluded that the suspicion is growing stronger, together with the conviction that Arafat's absence is felt now more than ever.

Is it conspiracy theory to suspect that Mossad (or I suppose some other agency) assassinated Arafat? Hardly. Proof, no. Plausible suspicion, definitely. This is partly because Israel clearly does not recognize elected Palestinian leaders as heads of state, and they are therefore subject to what is euphemistically termed "targeted removal" (or something like that). Moreover, Israel has a history of creating problems for themselves and of exacerbating existing problems. Israel supported the founding of Hamas in the first place in a classic "too clever by half" effort to provide a religious counter to the PLO. Oops.

Avnery concludes:

And, of course, if Arafat were alive, everything would be much easier.

I detect a faint whiff of sarcasm, but in the context of the rest of the article, I think he's serious. And I don't know if I agree. It seems rather to me that with Arafat gone, it's easy to forget the corruption and the diva syndrome. Well, and the refusal of Israel to deal with him, either.

On the other hand, wouldn't it be just like Israel to kill the one guy who might be able to get the kind of Pan-Arab/Pan-Muslim consensus that would make a peace process actually work?