Rest In Peace: Yasr Arafat

The terrorist. The peacemaker. The freedom fighter. The negotiator. The hard-liner. The collaborator. The patriot. The martyr. The demon. The saint. The sell-out. The chairman. The president. The dictator. The leader.

The symbol.

Yasr Arafat chose conflict as the theme of his long life. He could have lived in oblivion as a rich engineer in the Gulf. Instead he took up arms and eventually became the symbol of a nation at war, a nation without a home, and lately a nation imprisoned. I hope that all people from all races and nations can join me in hoping Yasr Arafat may rest in peace; that the conflicts he has participated in may flicker out into the grave and respectful somberness of those who mourn.