While noting that Arafat fomented terrorisn, we must also realize that it was terrorism on the part of the Jewish population of Palestine that finaly made the British occupiers of the region decide that this small bit of territory wasn't worth the bother of trying to govern it.

The resulting civil struggles between the Arab and Jewish occupants of Palestine resulted in a set of boundaries that defined the Israel of the late 40's and early 50's, an area that included both Israeli and Palestinian people. Subsequent wars over this upstart country in an Arab or Moslem region resulted in more land acquisition on the part of Israelis since they were more willing to die for their cause than the Arabs, or just better at warfare. Each war, started by their neighbors, resulted in Israel coming out on top, abeit with lots of help from the USA. We initially tended to support them due to a large American Jewish population, but we support them now because they are the only friend we have in the region, and they are able to provide us with intelligence data that, for many reasons, we are unable to get for ourselves.

Israel did not keep all of the land she captured during the many incursions by local Arabic countries, perhaps not of her own volition, but by judging things in the light of world opinion; and she seemed to have come to a state of peaceful coesistance with Egypt, her largest neighbor. Unfortunately there never seemed to be any common ground in the matters between the Israelis and the Palestinians that did not involve driving the Israelis into the sea, so this situation was never resolved. Arafat and his ilk existed by playing on Palestinian hopes of their return to lands they abandoned 50 years ago, and driving his people to increasingly more violent acts of terrorism, to the point where peace may not be possible between these two peoples, as long as the current generation still exists.

It will be interesting to see how this problem plays out in the wake of his death, and if peace can possibly come to this troubled region.

Dave