LEGACY

Arafat has died. Freedom fighter or terrorist? Hero or villain? Is it to be ping-pong with Gandhi in heaven, or an accordion duet with Nixon in hell? Okay, that last one is not a serious question, I only wanted an excuse to share with you my image of Tricky Dick sitting amidst the flames on an uncomfortable metal folding chair, gasping and heaving through endless renditions of "Beer Barrel Polka" with wee, red-eyed devil children biting at his ankles every time the tempo flags.

The legacy of Arafat is impressive, troubling, and (conservatives cover your ears) complex. In many ways, he helped usher in the era of international terrorism in which we are now living. He also personified the just aspirations of a wronged people. I can't condone the use of violence against non-combatants, but also I feel that it would be incredibly jejune of me to sit here in my cozy office in my Seattle condo and condemn Arafat for using the tools available to him.

The fact that a Palestinian State is now seen by most people as inevitable is largely due to Arafat's leadership, which is also to say that it is largely due to terrorism. Conversely, the fact that no such state yet exists is, I think, largely due to Arafat's unwillingness or inability to abandon terrorism, or to reign in Palestinian factions which still practice it.

In any case, the raw truth is that when the history of Palestine is written, the use of terrorism will be seen as having been instrumental in its creation, just as it was instrumental in the creation of Israel. A moral conundrum, that.