Danny Rubinstein, a renown Israeli journalist who spoke yesterday about the creation of the Arafat myth, encountered a mixture of criticism and praise from the 40-person audience.
"Arafat has tried to become the symbol of the Palestinian people," said Rubinstein. "The Palestinian people need legitimacy, recognition and a symbol to unite them. Once he became the symbol he became the leader."
The speech, titled "The Mystery of Arafat," was sponsored by the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding.
Rubinstein began the lecture by describing Palestinian leader Yassar Arafat's motive and means for transforming himself into the nation's symbol. "Arafat will never forget that the other Arab nations disarmed the Palestinians during the 1948 Israeli Independence War," he said.
Rubinstein added, "Arafat felt there was no room for a Palestinian entity among the Arab nations. That is why he encouraged his people to look at him as a symbol."
One of the techniques Arafat used to create this image was to travel continuously. Rubinstein pointed out that in a one-month span of time he traveled to 48 different countries. "He wants to state the message that we are Palestinian, we have no home and we are forced to travel from place to place," he said.
Rubinstein also pointed out that Arafat has used his personal life to enforce the image -- Arafat sleeps on a mattress in his office and has no personal belongings. "Thus it is not relevant if he is a liar or ignorant because he has created the image that he is the symbol of the Palestinian people," said Rubinstein.
"Now, however, Arafat's time is up -- the Palestinians need a bureaucrat or an administrator as a leader," concluded Rubinstein, who has specialized in Israeli politics as both a journalist and author and is considered one of the most respected observers of the Palestinian scene.
Following the speech a disturbed listener remarked, "you have called Arafat a liar and other shameless names and then you say he represents the Palestinian people. What type of image do you think this portrays of the Palestinian people? This a dehumanization of a person and a people."
"There are many other more qualified Palestinian leaders than Arafat," answered Rubinstein. "But, because he has created an image that he is the symbol of the Palestinian people they picked him up as the leader."
Professor Shalom Goldman said after the speech that "Rubinstein's objectivity places him in a difficult position -- he can and has been attacked by Arabs and Jews."
On his way out Rubinstein turned to Goldman and in Hebrew said, "I am leaving, leaving for good."
