Get Well Soon, You Terrorist Bastard

[Monte Smith]

Granting that this story comes from The Guardian, it still might be true and thus encouraging of possible change in the stranglehold that the most incompetent revolutionary leader in history, Yasser Arafat, has had on the destiny of the Palestinian people.

Arafat has suffered heart attack, admits aide

Officials tried to hide condition of president threatened by Israel

Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
Wednesday October 8, 2003
The Guardian

And thus commenceth the liberal clap-trap:

Yasser Arafat has suffered a mild heart attack but the Palestinian leadership has sought to keep his health problems secret for fear it will "create panic".

The 74-year-old Palestinian president, who is suffering from Parkinson's disease, disappeared from public view last week and re-emerged at the weekend looking extremely ill. His face was pale and pinched, he had lost weight and he was almost inaudible. He had trouble standing for more than a few minutes at a time.

The Palestinian press said he was suffering from flu. But Palestinian officials told the Guardian that Mr Arafat had suffered a heart attack last week. "Although he has had a slight heart attack, the doctors say he will make a full recovery. He is in full control. There is nothing to worry about," said a close aide to Mr Arafat, who did not wish to be named.

Asked why it had not been made public at the time, the official said that it would "have created panic at a critical time when the Israelis are threatening Arafat's life".

At the beginning of last week, the Palestinian president was visited by his personal physician from Jordan, Dr Ashraf al-Kurdi, and a heart specialist, Yousuf al-Qusous, after he abruptly cancelled all appointments and disappeared from view. The doctors said the Palestinian president had been hit by flu but was recovered. "The illness is over, thank God," Dr Kurdi said at the time.

But a few days later, Mr Arafat was again isolated from all but a few close aides. Again, the official explanation was flu. Sources inside the Palestinian leader's compound in Ramallah say he was too weak to eat for several days. When he reappeared at the weekend, regular visitors to Mr Arafat's compound commented on how ill he looked.

Yesterday, the Palestinian foreign minister, Nabil Shaath, said Mr Arafat was suffering from a stomach ailment which was believed to be an ulcer. He described him as "very frail".

Israeli officials say the Palestinian president's health is not a factor as the government considers whether or not to carry out its threat to exile, or even kill, Mr Arafat. "It would be very convenient if nature were to take its course," said an Israeli foreign ministry official, Jonathan Peled. "But Mr Arafat is a cat with nine lives and we do not believe he has used all of them yet."

If Mr Arafat require medical treatment that is not available in Ramallah, he would be likely to travel to Egypt or Jordan but only if Israel permits him to return to the West Bank. Mr Peled said the government would be happy to see Mr Arafat leave but was unlikely to allow him to return.

The Egyptian press recently reported that Mr Arafat has sought the help of the government in Cairo to ensure that when he dies he is buried next to the Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, Islam's third holiest site. Israel would have to give its consent for Mr Arafat's body to be moved from Ramallah to Jerusalem. Israeli officials say that would be unlikely in the present climate.

Mr Arafat was on hand yesterday for the swearing-in of an emergency government led by the new prime minister, Ahmed Qureia. But the new administration is already beset by power struggles over crucial issues such as control of the Palestinian security forces.

Khalil Shikaki, a leading Palestinian political analyst, said Mr Qureia's government was unlikely to ease the conflict with Israel.

"I don't expect this government to deliver very much on the two main issues that confront the Palestinians, political reform and security," he said. "The reform process was destroyed by Arafat when he equated it to disloyalty. The previous government had a much better chance to bring peace because it had the 'road map' [the US-led peace plan] and a ceasefire from Hamas. That is all gone."

"Today, escalation is the dominant theme. Sooner or later the Israelis will expel or kill Arafat, and invade Gaza and reoccupy it. The logic of the Israeli policy is escalation."

[GoodSpeak]

Oh...sorry.

I thought this was another California recall thread.


My bad.

I thought Bush or Sharon had caught the flu, or something.

[Monte Smith]

Originally posted by Chris A
I thought Bush or Sharon had caught the flu, or something.

Oh, it's more serious than that. And closer to home for you.

Hey Monte, didn't you call this one a few months ago?

[Monte Smith]

Originally posted by Scott Dolan
Hey Monte, didn't you call this one a few months ago?

No, Scott. While I have been calling for this asswipe's head on a pike for years, never did I predict that he would have a heart attack. I frankly didn't believe he had the requisite organs for a coronary. I thought Yasser would be taken out by unfriendly fire. I still hope that.

[bluenoter]

Monte--Do you think that someone more moderate would replace him? If so, why?

[Monte Smith]

Originally posted by bluenoter
Monte--Do you think that someone more moderate would replace him? If so, why?

No. It'll be nice for the world to know what they are dealing with, post-Arafat, without the incense of Peace Prize being burned before an established hero of the anti-western Left.

I thought Yasser would be taken out by unfriendly fire. I still hope that.

You wouldn't accept friendly fire?

[Monte Smith]

Originally posted by Scott Dolan
You wouldn't accept friendly fire?

Sure I would! I mean, I'd want to see his head cut off and a stake thru the heart...but I'd accept that.

[bluenoter]

Monte--Another question: Would you rather see peace in the Middle East or continue to have that bad, bad (collective) enemy to feel bloodthirsty about?

[Monte Smith]

Originally posted by bluenoter
Monte--Another question: Would you rather see peace in the Middle East or continue to have that bad, bad (collective) enemy to feel bloodthirsty about?

Peace, by a long shot. I'd have liked to have seen peace in 1948.

[bluenoter]

I'm sincerely glad to hear that. But in that case, I would think that the notion of Arafat being replaced by someone less moderate would give you pause. World opinion is an indirect and uncertain factor; what's happening "on the ground" is not.

(I hope you understand what I mean. I'm too tired to make that any more coherent.)

[Monte Smith]

Originally posted by bluenoter
I'm sincerely glad to hear that. But in that case, I would think that the notion of Arafat being replaced by someone less moderate would give you pause. World opinion is an indirect and uncertain factor; what's happening "on the ground" is not.

As a lover of peace, Bluenoter, do you find what is happening "on the ground," Arafat having a heart attack, to be detrimental to peace?

Or to put it another way: is Arafat the indipensable man for a just and peaceful resolution to the Middle East?

I mean, in what universe is it so?

[bluenoter]

I certainly hope that he isn't indispensable. But isn't it self-evident that less moderate = less likely to accept peaceful solutions and more likely to escalate terrorism? Come to think of it, it doesn't seem evident to the Israeli leadership, and I honestly don't see why.

I'm sorry, but it's bedtime.

• Monte wants peace
  Monte supports Sharon
  Monte is full of shit

[Clay Fink]

Originally posted by Chris A

• Monte wants peace
  Monte supports Sharon
  Monte is full of shit

Didn't know you were a poet.

Catchy.

[jesus marion joseph]

Chris A types the words
Knee jerks under the table
He smiles through the pain

[Uli]

Monte & Chris
don't always hide
their jerking knees
nobody has ever seen
Gordon B's

[jesus marion joseph]

Uli writes haiku
Spells all the words right for once
Has terrible form

[RBS]

Haiku terror bad
Arafat heart attack is good?
Boy! What a world now!

[jesus marion joseph]

jmj types posts
Pixels show no emotion
Humor intended*





*Edited for better "purity" of form.

[jesus marion joseph]

Originally posted by RBS
Haiku terror bad
Arafat heart attack is good?
Boy! What a world now!

RBS haiku
Hits the nail right on the head
Much applause follows

[Monte Smith]

Arab sources say
Guardian report untrue.
Who do you believe?

[Salvador Dali Lama]

kickass.

bluenoter, the next guy will be a jackass too but at least he won't have the rich history of terrorism and murder as arafat. few alive, if any, have arafat's amount of experience in terrorist activity.

its like, kruschev might not have been so great.... but he replaced stalin, ya know?

[RBS]

Originally posted by jesus marion joseph
RBS haiku
Hits the nail right on the head
Much applause follows

Thank you JMJ
Lieberman and Arafat
Beg you eat lox now.