THE DARK CLOUD OF ABU AMAR HAS PASSED


For some reason when I think of Arafat's death, I get the image of Saruman at the end of Lord of the Rings, a malevolent cloud rising into the air, hovering for a moment and then finally dispersed with a swift gust of wind from the west. Arafat will be in death as in life, more a symbol than a man. A symbol of the Arab rejection of Jewish equality and dignity and its manifestation in the state of Israel,, of the toxic romanticism of western progressives, and of the sacrifice of the very real needs of his own people and lives of countless innocent Jews on the altar of Arab and Islamic honor. With his passing, there is hope for if not peace, than tangible progress towards it.