. . . grow up, people.
Look, I know Arafat was evil. I know how many innocent people died because of him. I know that he was a slimeball when it came to political dealings — and I have very high standards when it comes to slime in politics. I know he embezzled millions of dollars — billions, according to some reports — from aid that was meant to build schools and feed starving people in Yesh"a. I feel no pain whatsoever at his passing, and part of me honestly wanted to smile when I read the New York Times' banner headline.
But it's still problematic for people to have public parties in honor of his death, particularly in light of our contention that he had ceased to be relevant anyway. I was still embarrassed this morning when people brought cookies to ulpan to celebrate. And the situation here is still dangerous and volatile — possibly more so than before.
The Palestinian power structure is very unstable right now, as is often the case when a dictator falls. Are we really being responsible by gloating at them? Do try to remember that this intifadeh began not as a response to an Israeli targeted killing, but as a (massive) overreaction to an Israeli insult to Palestinian sovereignty.
