Eulogies and Kataras
Eulogy means "good words" in Greek so it shouldn't really be applied to a lot of what people have to say about Yasser Arafat on his passing from this world down into the pits of Gehenna.
Katara means "curse" and it more appropriate for dealing with this failed human being.
Charles at LGF has two links
here and
here.
The
First link at LGF points to words spoken by Kofi Annan:
bq. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan praised Arafat’s struggle to win international recognition for the Palestinian cause, as he ordered flags to fly at half-mast at the United Nations, even though the Palestinians only have observer status at the world body.
and Jacques Chirac:
bq. French President Jacques Chirac visited the Percy military hospital to bid a final farewell to Arafat, pledging that his country would continue to work to achieve a settlement in the Middle East.
bq. “I have come to bow before president Yasser Arafat and pay him a final homage,” he said after the 25-minute visit.
Charles then points to a timeline of Arafat's rise to power and his sponsorship of terrorism:
bq. Oct. 21, 1996: Speaking at a rally near Bethlehem, Arafat said "We know only one word - jihad. jihad, jihad, jihad. Whoever does not like it can drink from the Dead Sea or from the Sea of Gaza."
There is also a
list of all of those people who lost their life as a result of terrorist acts by palestinians against Israeli citizens -- this list covers from 2000 through present and it is a long long list of names...
The
Second link at LGF points to the words on one person only.
Ex-president Jimmy Carter:
bq. Former US President Jimmy Carter called Yasser Arafat “a powerful human symbol and forceful advocate” who united Palestinians in their pursuit of a homeland.
bq. “Yasser Arafat’s death marks the end of an era and will no doubt be painfully felt by Palestinians throughout the Middle East and elsewhere in the world,” Carter said.
bq. “He was the father of the modern Palestinian nationalist movement. A powerful human symbol and forceful advocate, Palestinians united behind him in their pursuit of a homeland,” he said in a statement distributed by his Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center.
*spit*
Finally, Wretchard at
The Belmont Club finds the perfect voice:
bq. A
Palestinian power struggle is expected to break out among the pretenders to his vacated throne. Even in death, Arafat has lost none of his power to kill. Shakespeare once wrote that 'the evil that men do lives after them' and that is right enough. But I think
John Milton more completely captured the essence of terrorism's aims in Satan's speech to the demons mustered in hell. If the damned desire one thing, it is company.
What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield:
And what is else not to be overcome?
Fall'n Cherube, to be weak is miserable
Doing or Suffering: but of this be sure,
To do ought good never will be our task,
But ever to do ill our sole delight,
As being the contrary to his high will
Whom we resist. If then his Providence
Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,
Our labour must be to pervert that end,
And out of good still to find means of evil;
Which oft times may succeed, so as perhaps
Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb
His inmost counsels from their destind aim.
Posted by DaveH at November 11, 2004 10:20 AM