20 June 2004Ira Moskowitz
The last several weeks in Israel have been relatively quiet on the security front. Stories about killer dogs and court battles between biological and adoptive parents are filling the headlines - almost like a normal country. Without horrific terror attacks splashed on the front pages, making the blood of Israelis boil, perhaps it's an opportune time for Yasser Arafat to mount a comeback.Some readers may suspect that Haaretz has taken upon itself the mission of rehabilitating the Palestinian leader, whom the government has declared "irrelevant" and marked for deportation. Indeed, the lead articles in the weekend supplements of Haaretz during the past two weeks have focused on Arafat and raised question marks about the popular conception that he is not a partner for peace.The first article (Popular Misconceptions by Akiva Eldar, June 11) exposed dissension within the ranks of Israel's army intelligence regarding Arafat's intentions. On one side, Amos Gilad, the former directory of army intelligence, insists that Arafat never intended to make peace with Israel. Gilad's former commanding officer, Amos Malka, offers a different assessment, arguing that Arafat is a potential partner for peace. Moreover, Malka - as well as other intelligence experts interviewed in follow-up articles - contend that army intelligence never compiled evidence supporting the conclusion that Arafat is still hell-bent on destroying Israel. This article sparked considerable debate within Israel and this prompted a decision by Haaretz to request an interview with Arafat to hear his own first-hand account. "What's the point of having a controversy about someone who lives down the road, let's go and ask him," explains Haaretz editor David Landau. So Landau and Akiva Eldar traveled last week to Arafat's compound in Ramallah - the Muqata. This meeting resulted in the second of the front page articles about Arafat in Haaretz. (A Jewish state? `Definitely', June 18) It was Landau's first interview with the Palestinian leader and it seemed to leave him with more questions than answers. "I now understand better why there's this controversy...because he's very difficult to fathom - he's deliberately opaque." What are Arafat's real intentions? "I think that he himself doesn't know...it depends on how things turn out," Landau suggests.The text of the interview contains something for everyone, Landau says. Right-wingers can interpret some of his comments as confirming Arafat's bellicose intentions, while those on the left can find encouraging words to bolster their confidence in his commitment to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.Nothing has changedOne strong impression Landau took from the meeting was that Arafat believes the intifada has not fundamentally changed his role. "He speaks as though negotiations are in recess...he knows all the minutiae of everything and he's still engaged...in his mind, nothing has changed," Landau says.Landau denies that Haaretz is on a mission to rehabilitate Arafat, but is convinced that the policy of isolating the Palestinian leader in his Ramallah compound is counter-productive from Israel's perspective. "I came out terribly depressed. Israel is doing itself an historic disservice which is going to take its toll on us for a long time to come by treating him in this demeaning way, keeping him in these conditions." Landau notes that Arafat is also taking full advantage of this situation to win points in the battle for world opinion. "The place is in ruins - they're carefully preserving the ruins. The place stinks. His own office needs a coat of paint - but they want it to look as miserable as possible so when people come they can say: 'Look what the Israelis are doing to me.' And this, I think, will come back to haunt us."Eldar had already met with Arafat a number of times in the past, including two previous visits during the intifada. If Arafat's comments are ambiguous, this is because he is trying to maneuver between the expectations of his Israeli guests and the demands of his own constituency, Eldar says. Nonetheless, Arafat made some very significant statements during the interview, according to Eldar, especially in regard to the central issue of Palestinian refugees. The newspaper's roleAccording to Eldar, Arafat paid a price by stating that he "definitely" recognizes Israel's concern with maintaining its identity as a Jewish state. But Eldar did not expect Arafat to reveal all his "cards" in a newspaper interview. It's up to the Israeli government, not Haaretz, to determine how much Arafat is willing to pay for a final accord with Israel, Eldar says. Eldar also believes it is not Haaretz's role to lead a "crusade" to rehabilitate Arafat. The newspaper's role, he says, is to "help people ask the right questions" and recognize the complexity of the issue. He believes the series of articles on Arafat during the past two weeks "have created doubts" in the minds of Israelis. More people now understand that the question of whether or not Arafat is a partner is not such a simple one. In Eldar's view, Arafat is not a perfect partner, but the alternative is the status quo. "There's no third alternative. It's either Arafat or nothing," he says. But in the end, Eldar reiterates, this fateful decision is up to the readers and the Israeli government to decide.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=441158
