Words can't get more outrageous than this

"Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on the death of President Yasser Arafat" is what heads a few lines of text, apparently 'attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General'.

President Arafat will always be remembered for having, in 1988, led the Palestinians to accept the principle of peaceful coexistence between Israel and a future Palestinian state. By signing the Oslo accords in 1993 he took a giant step towards the realisation of this vision.

I am not surprised to hear the leader of the UN say Arafat 'led the Palestinians to accept the principle of peaceful coexistence between Israel and a future Palestinian state'. Because according to UN standards, THAT is exactly what Arafat did!

By any sane standard of course (and as I pointed out recently), Arafat did more than anyone else (certainly more than any Israeli) to make sure the Arabs would NEVER get their 23rd country, for which I would be eternally grateful if it wasn't for the fact that it cost the lives of thousands of Jews to do it.

Good to have it out in the open that Arafat and UN have a common concept of the 'principle of peaceful coexistence'. It explains a lot, like the handling of the situation in Sudan, or Rwanda, or Bosnia, or... Well, anyplace but Israel really.

Also read this UN statement by Annan himself. What really struck me was this:

Thirty years ago this week, Yasser Arafat stood in this chamber, when he became the first representative of a non-governmental organization to speak to a plenary session of the General Assembly. One year later, the GA adopted Resolution 3237, conferring on the PLO the status of observer in the Assembly and in other international conferences held under United Nations auspices.

But the relationship between the United Nations and the Palestinian people is far deeper and broader, and dates back much longer, than that. For 55 years, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency has provided humanitarian assistance, health care, housing and education to Palestinians. Today, there are a total of 19 UN agencies and bodies lending their assistance to the Palestinian people. [Emphasis mine - Ed]

For 55 years, the UN has kept alive a refugee problem that on any other part of this planet would have disappeared one way or another in months.

And they're using 19 separate 'UN agencies and bodies' to keep on pampering the Arabs, making sure this NEVER goes away. Until Israel goes away, that is.

Let's hear it for Arafat and the UN.