There are conflicting views about the life of Yasser Arafat. France gave him a full state final farewell. Some say that Arafat was a freedom fighter and a hero, who symbolised the suffering and hope of the Palestinian people. Others are more realistic. They say he was the founding father and architect of international terror. But with signing of the Oslo Accord he was seen as a terrorist turned peacemaker. All of a sudden he had international prestige and recognition. He was a welcome guest in the major capitals of the world and a regular visitor to Clinton’s White House. Towards the end of his life, however, he found himself shunned by the United States government and totally isolated by a good part of the civilised world. This man, whose hands were drenched in Jewish blood, had the opportunity of making an historic peace with Israel. He could have ended the suffering not only of his own people but also of many other people all over the world. Instead he missed the opportunity and has died a colossal failure – even his own people secretly admit this.
The war between the West and the perpetrators of international terrorism can be compared to the rivalry that existed between Jacob and Esau. According to Kabbalah, Jacob represents order and peace and Esau symbolises chaos and destruction. International terrorism has a distinctively Esauan character to it; it too thrives on chaos, hatred and prejudice. Conversely, Western democracy stands for justice, peace and freedom – uniquely Jacob-like qualities.
At the very beginning of the story about the life of Jacob and Esau, the Bible relates how Esau came in exhausted from a whole day of hunting in the field. He noticed that his brother Jacob was cooking a stew. Esau said to Jacob, “Pour into me now some of that red stuff, for I am exhausted.” Jacob gave him some, on condition that Esau sell him his birthright in exchange. Esau agreed, reasoning that if he did not eat he would die anyway, and what use would the birthright be to a dead man? So Jacob gave the stew to Esau. It would seem that Esau was acting in a perfectly reasonable manner. It was Jacob who was being mean by putting a price on the stew. But the Bible does not see it this way. Indeed, the end of the story reads, “And he [Esau] ate and drank, got up and left; thus, Esau spurned the birthright.” At first glance, this does not seem right. Esau did not spurn the birthright; rather, he was forced to concede it to his brother or face certain death.
If one looks closely at the narrative, one will see why Esau is considered to have spurned the birthright. It is not because he reluctantly agreed to give it up in lieu of the stew Jacob was cooking, but because after eating the stew and regaining his energy he just got up and left. Even after Esau had returned to a normal state of mind he did not bother to try to regain his birthright from Jacob. He had thus proven that at the outset the birthright meant nothing to him. Thus it looks as if he spurned it.
This was Arafat’s mistake too. Initially, when he was fighting a battle against Israel, people saw him as credible. Rightly or wrongly, he was judged to have a legitimate grievance and thus to be fighting for a just cause. However, after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered him ninety-seven per cent of the West Bank and half of Jerusalem – just like Esau after he had already eaten the stew, he not only spurned it but he also sent three years’ worth of suicide bombers into Israel. This proved to the world that he had never really cared about his people’s suffering. All he cared about was terror and the killing of innocent Israeli citizens. We must be clear: Arafat should be remembered as the person he always was – the founding father of international terrorism. The fact that he went along with Oslo and received the Nobel Peace Prize is totally negated by the fact that he launched the last three years of bloodletting.