The Olive Branch
BY Gebran Tueni
"Abu Ammar", Yasser Arafat, the "old man" died.But do the great men really die? Irrespective of our own opinion – in fact we were at odds with Arafat during the war on Lebanon – did John Kennedy, Che Guevara, Abd El Nasser, Khrushchev and De Gaulle die?The great men do not die because they lay the foundations of the future, and their deeds remain alive after their death.Yasser Arafat may be the last giant of the Arab world or even of this age!Men like him are great whether you like them or not, you agree with them or not.He was the man of contradictions who bore the olive branch in one hand and the rifle in another. All his life, he dreamt of return, and he returned to Palestine to lay the foundations of the independent Palestinian state. It is not easy to write now about Yasser Arafat especially if you belong to the war generation – our generation – who used to dream during the youth age about the Palestinian revolution and all revolutions, a generation that used to wear a Kaffiyeh because it was the symbol of rage and permanent revolution.However, that generation soon abandoned the Kaffiyeh and the Palestinian revolution in the beginning of the seventies and later on when the war started in Lebanon and "Abu Ammar" became a major party in this war, and was responsible with many others for the bloodshed and the death of the Lebanese dream.Our generation went from blind support to Arafat and his revolution to blind enmity, not to say irrevocable hostility towards him and his revolution.In that time, our generation pulled out weapons against those who were supposed to liberate Palestine but used their weapons to build the road to Palestine through Jounieh, Beirut, Mount Lebanon and Damour at the detriment of Lebanon and its people.Throughout the war in Lebanon, we were in conflict with Abu Ammar because we did not want Lebanon to become a substitute homeland, another Palestine – or a consolation prize in exchange of a land that may never be recovered – and we considered that Abu Ammar is the one who gave up his dream, his land and his cause!After Abu Ammar left Lebanon with his militants and weapons, I met him in Jordan. The interview started with a verbal attack behind the barricades that stood between us for minutes, but he soon returned to the language of reason and spoke about the dream of the sixties and the revolution he launched in his youth.The second meeting was in his Tunisian exile and the conversation was warm and deep.The third meeting was in Baghdad after the assassination of "Abu Jihad", and Abu Ammar was hoping that the Intifada would introduce the required change.The other meetings were with the man who bore the olive branch in Davos where Arafat went from being the first fighter to becoming the first negotiator and peace advocate.In all our meetings, Abu Ammar used to talk about Lebanon with tears in his eyes and a twinge of sorrow. He used to acknowledge that the Palestinian resistance has fallen into the trap and said more than once that he regretted the mistakes of the past and that he was eager to gain the trust of the Lebanese people and open a new page in his relations with them.Irrespective of all considerations and our opinion about Arafat, he succeeded in creating a resistant and united Palestinian society. There was no distinction between one Palestinian and the other, or between Christians and Muslims. That's why Abu Ammar succeeded in his revolution.The real threat nowadays is that the Palestinian split would deepen due the propagation of fundamentalism and Islamist extremism that Abu Ammar had always refused because he wanted to spare the Palestinian society and the revolution the consequences of dissension and division, on the basis of the lessons learned from the Lebanese war.I always remember what he said to me once "Do not fall again in the trap of dissension. Do not get divided over your loyalty to your country. Do not commit the same errors we, the Palestinians, committed in the forties when we lost the land… you have the most precious treasure in the world. You have Lebanon, do not loose it. Protect it and forgive us". He added "my dream is to go back to Palestine, any Palestine, even if it was the size of a matchbox. The most important thing is to start from a certain place and to hoist the Palestinian flag on the Palestinian land. It would start small then expand. That's why I'm ready to accept any draft solution that will allow us to start our journey back to Palestine".Abu Ammar returned to Palestine and started working for peace. However, the "old man" soon returned to his former position as a man of contradictions. After fighting for democracy, he became afraid of it. And the man who once called for a peaceful solution started to hesitate. The journey stopped and the solution became the problem…!Maybe Abu Ammar wanted, for the last time, to avoid making the error that would be fatal to the Palestinian cause, thus learning form his mistakes in Lebanon and the mistakes of most, not to say all Arab leaders who are obsessed with domination and monopolization of power. He left but this time returned to his final resting place in the hope that his death would be the "olive branch" that will hold peace for Palestine and the region.
"Abu Ammar", Yasser Arafat, the "old man" died.But do the great men really die? Irrespective of our own opinion – in fact we were at odds with Arafat during the war on Lebanon – did John Kennedy, Che Guevara, Abd El Nasser, Khrushchev and De Gaulle die?The great men do not die because they lay the foundations of the future, and their deeds remain alive after their death.Yasser Arafat may be the last giant of the Arab world or even of this age!Men like him are great whether you like them or not, you agree with them or not.He was the man of contradictions who bore the olive branch in one hand and the rifle in another. All his life, he dreamt of return, and he returned to Palestine to lay the foundations of the independent Palestinian state. It is not easy to write now about Yasser Arafat especially if you belong to the war generation – our generation – who used to dream during the youth age about the Palestinian revolution and all revolutions, a generation that used to wear a Kaffiyeh because it was the symbol of rage and permanent revolution.However, that generation soon abandoned the Kaffiyeh and the Palestinian revolution in the beginning of the seventies and later on when the war started in Lebanon and "Abu Ammar" became a major party in this war, and was responsible with many others for the bloodshed and the death of the Lebanese dream.Our generation went from blind support to Arafat and his revolution to blind enmity, not to say irrevocable hostility towards him and his revolution.In that time, our generation pulled out weapons against those who were supposed to liberate Palestine but used their weapons to build the road to Palestine through Jounieh, Beirut, Mount Lebanon and Damour at the detriment of Lebanon and its people.Throughout the war in Lebanon, we were in conflict with Abu Ammar because we did not want Lebanon to become a substitute homeland, another Palestine – or a consolation prize in exchange of a land that may never be recovered – and we considered that Abu Ammar is the one who gave up his dream, his land and his cause!After Abu Ammar left Lebanon with his militants and weapons, I met him in Jordan. The interview started with a verbal attack behind the barricades that stood between us for minutes, but he soon returned to the language of reason and spoke about the dream of the sixties and the revolution he launched in his youth.The second meeting was in his Tunisian exile and the conversation was warm and deep.The third meeting was in Baghdad after the assassination of "Abu Jihad", and Abu Ammar was hoping that the Intifada would introduce the required change.The other meetings were with the man who bore the olive branch in Davos where Arafat went from being the first fighter to becoming the first negotiator and peace advocate.In all our meetings, Abu Ammar used to talk about Lebanon with tears in his eyes and a twinge of sorrow. He used to acknowledge that the Palestinian resistance has fallen into the trap and said more than once that he regretted the mistakes of the past and that he was eager to gain the trust of the Lebanese people and open a new page in his relations with them.Irrespective of all considerations and our opinion about Arafat, he succeeded in creating a resistant and united Palestinian society. There was no distinction between one Palestinian and the other, or between Christians and Muslims. That's why Abu Ammar succeeded in his revolution.The real threat nowadays is that the Palestinian split would deepen due the propagation of fundamentalism and Islamist extremism that Abu Ammar had always refused because he wanted to spare the Palestinian society and the revolution the consequences of dissension and division, on the basis of the lessons learned from the Lebanese war.I always remember what he said to me once "Do not fall again in the trap of dissension. Do not get divided over your loyalty to your country. Do not commit the same errors we, the Palestinians, committed in the forties when we lost the land… you have the most precious treasure in the world. You have Lebanon, do not loose it. Protect it and forgive us". He added "my dream is to go back to Palestine, any Palestine, even if it was the size of a matchbox. The most important thing is to start from a certain place and to hoist the Palestinian flag on the Palestinian land. It would start small then expand. That's why I'm ready to accept any draft solution that will allow us to start our journey back to Palestine".Abu Ammar returned to Palestine and started working for peace. However, the "old man" soon returned to his former position as a man of contradictions. After fighting for democracy, he became afraid of it. And the man who once called for a peaceful solution started to hesitate. The journey stopped and the solution became the problem…!Maybe Abu Ammar wanted, for the last time, to avoid making the error that would be fatal to the Palestinian cause, thus learning form his mistakes in Lebanon and the mistakes of most, not to say all Arab leaders who are obsessed with domination and monopolization of power. He left but this time returned to his final resting place in the hope that his death would be the "olive branch" that will hold peace for Palestine and the region.
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