Arafat’s Address to the United Nations

The controversy over the denial of a U.S. visa to Arafat sent us to our files on a well-known Middle East terrorist. We unearthed the following history.

In his youth this individual joined a pro-fascist group which laid holy claim to all of Palestine and even the East Bank of the Jordan. With him as leader, the group conducted bombings and killings in support of its nationalist crusade, even against co-religionists deemed too moderate.

He once wrote, “A large part of the law books are but a disguise for terrorist rule. . . . The true terrorist sits behind his pile of papers, behind the laws he made.”

In quest of its fanatic vision the group took part in a massacre. It assassinated a U.N. peace mediator.

Years later, our subject scorned the Camp David accords. In 1984, he foresaw “thousands of years, or even scores of thousands of years of terrorism.”

In March, 1988, he said, “We are declaring war on the Shultz peace plan.”

The leader described is Yitzhak Shamir, erstwhile chief of the Stern Gang, prime minister of Israel, our “strategic ally” and outpost of Western values, “the only democracy in the Middle East.”

Yet Arafat does not quarrel with the Israeli nation’s free democratic choice of leadership, and asks to sit down with this same Shamir to work out a peace settlement in the Holy Land.

To insult and exclude Arafat, the unquestioned leader of 4 million beleaguered, oppressed but unbowed Palestinians, is another slap in the face to peace and a boost to extremism.

ANTHONY SAIDY

Vice President

L.A. Chapter

American-Arab

Anti-Discrimination Committee