Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY. MAY 20. 2004 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 7 A
They Touched Me . . .
Yasser Arafat
By Wayne Smith
Carolyn and I had just checked
into the Intercontinental Hotel in
Beirut, Lebanon, when we looked
down and saw a man pull a woman
through the window of her car BY
HER HAIR. Trying to calm down,
we wondered about being here in
1978.
Chairman Yasser Arafat of the
Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) had previously sent his
assistant, Yussef Al-Bandak to
Decatur, Georgia to invite us to
come to Beirut for a visit. He knew
that I was acquainted with Presi
dent Jimmy Carter, but he did not
indicate that I should share with
him our experience in Beirut.
Arafat just wanted us to see the
plight of his Palestinian exiles, and
maybe we could think of something
that would help them.
I had recently founded The
Friendship Force, an organization
dedicated to forming lasting friend
ships across cultural and national
boundaries. Seeing both the misery
and the potential in Beirut, I won
dered about filling an airplane with
several hundred Americans who
would live with ordinary Palestini
ans for a few days. Then the same
plane would carry Palestinians to a
city in this country for a reciprocal
homestay.
I had met U.S. ambassador to
Lebanon John Gunter Dean previ
ously. When I went to see him, he
suggested that a courtesy call on
Lebanon’s President Sarkis would
be appropriate. Getting to the presi
dential palace was not easy,
because each of Sunni and Shiite
rv
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Muslims, Christians of several
denominations, and Palestinians
had their own turf and the ambas
sador’s car was searched at every
boundary.
The president reminisced about
the 1950s, when Beirut was called
the “Paris of the Middle East.’’
During that period so many Pales
tinian refugees arrived, that
Lebanese became a minority in
their own country. Now his nation
is so fragmented that there is
interethnic tension everywhere.
President Sarkis liked my idea
of exchanging Palestinians and
Americans, but he felt that
Lebanese and others should be
included. As I listened I became
aware of a new potential: in addi
tion to the international aspect of
the exchange, fellow Beirutians
could learn a little about living in
harmony among themselves. I
readily conceded his point, and
thereby won his support for the
project.
Still waiting for Arafat’s assis
tants to find a place to meet where
he (and we?) would not be exposed
to assassins, we saw medical facili
ties and schools that the PLO had
established for Palestinians. We
also saw villages that had been
bombed and strafed by Israeli
fighter jets. Having been to Israel
many times, these sights helped me
to acquire a balanced view of what
is arguably history’s most
intractable stand-off. It seemed to
me like watching two people
drowning, with each holding onto
the other in a death struggle.
Finally, after a trip in an
unmarked car to a working class
neighborhood and a climb to the
second floor, Chairman Arafat
greeted Carolyn and me warmly.
Over hot and strong coffee, he
thanked us for accepting his invita
tion. Wasn’t it tragic that his people
had to live in such conditions?
Before and during the meal the
chairman and I felt a rapport grow
ing between us. He laughed hearti
ly when I told him the western
news media portrayed him as an
uncouth barbarian who ate a baby
every morning for breakfast. He
came right back at me, noticing my
generous figure and remarking that
one exercise I never practice is get
ting up from the table when there
was still food on it.
Arafat loved the idea of the
exchange, and he agreed with Pres
ident Sarkis concerning the mix of
ambassadors who would partici
pate from Beirut. Then I asked him
a very serious question. Did the
PLO still have as its cardinal goal
the “throwing of the Jews into the
sea?”
This used to be but is no longer.
But he insisted that Jews, Chris
tians, and Muslims; Israelis, Pales
tinians, and Lebanese all had to
learn to live together. He added that
of these nationalities only the
Palestinians have no homeland.
But I was not finished. What
about Jerusalem? The chairman
was ready for that one, suggesting
that it could be turned into an inter
national city administered by the
United Nations. Bethlehem would
do just fine as a Palestinian capital.
Forward to 2004. and if any
thing the situation is worse. The
death struggle of the two drowning
men continues. Palestinians still
see Arafat as their George Wash
ington. U.S. presidents and Israeli
prime ministers come and go; Yass
er Arafat remains.
Near the end of our four-hour
visit, Arafat presented to us a beau
tiful Bible with a mother-of-pearl
cover. Very embarrassed, I had for
gotten to bring along my gift to
him. I had purchased in Japan a
Casio watch, with lots of the bells
and whistles that today’s gadget
lover craves. Would he please
accept it, and whenever he glanced
at it he would remember that two
Americans were praying for him
and his people, and for a just reso
lution to the conflict.
The chairman treated the inex
pensive watch like a $20,000
Rolex. Then he ordered one last
round of coffee. While we were
drinking it an assistant brought in
three or four expensive watches,
and would I select one as a second
gift?
I demurred, saying I could not
accept his too generous offer. He
quickly said he did not blame me,
for these were not the best that he
had and he did not mean to insult
me. Then he gave me back my
watch, saying softly that he should
not offer this very special watch
because he had recently received it
from a beloved American friend
who had promised to pray for him
and for the plight of the Palestini
ans. But he wanted me to accept it,
so that each time I glanced at it I
would remember that I had a Pales
tinian friend who was praying for
him and for the American people.
Yasser Arafat touched me. I saw
a man who was struggling to find a
solution to a problem that for 50
years has defied every attempt to
solve it. My own opinion is when
the leaders of the Palestinians and
the Israelis decide to swim together
toward shore, helping each other
along the way, they will have peace.
Put another way, when these two
peoples love their children and their
future more than they love the past
and current hatred of each other,
they will find a solution that will
allow them to live side by side in
harmony.
[Editor's Note: The Rev. Wayne
Smith, a Big Canoe resident, is the
founder of The Friendship
Force,which today boasts 350 chap
ters in 60 countries. Among his
notable accomplishments and
awards was being nominated for the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. Locally,
Smith is active in the community in
many facets, including serving on
the staff of the Big Canoe Chapel.
Smith is currently working on an
autobiography which will appear as
a series in the Progress titled They
Touched Me. The previous install
ments of the series are available at
www.pickensprogress. com ]
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