Israel Matzav

Your tax dollars at work: UN promoting 'documentary' about Arafat

Presenting the first ever documentary on Yasser Arafat at the United Nations today, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People paid homage to the late leader, whom members said fought unceasingly for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

“This film we are about to see is a reminder of why we are here,” said Abdou Salam Diallo of Senegal, Chairman of the Committee.  Introducing the 90-minute film titled Arafat, he described the former statesman as an “iconic and almost mythical figure”, a tenacious fighter, astute strategist, and visionary leader.  More so, said Mr. Diallo, he was a man of peace who elevated the Palestinians from a half-forgotten refugee population to the top of the United Nations agenda.

Mr. Diallo said that the documentary offered a candid and unique portrait of Mr. Arafat through exclusive testimonies from his old brothers-in-arms and rare archival footage of the man’s evolution from freedom fighter to Nobel peace prize winner.  The film was also an account of the complicated Arab and international political dynamics of the time; the statesman’s cause — “more relevant than ever”.

The Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, called the screening an auspicious event, as Palestinians would be celebrating the special occasion of Yom al-Ard — the day of the land, which heralded the defending of the motherland and the strengthening of the root of his people.  He said that the documentary joined two other remarkable films on the Palestinian struggle, namely, Five Broken Cameras and The Gatekeepers.

Sahar Baassiri, a Lebanese journalist, who wrote and co-produced Arafat in collaboration with the Yasser Arafat Foundation in Ramallah, said that the documentary was not only Arafat’s story but the story of the Palestinian people.  Originally broadcast as a four-hour, two-part television series on six Arab stations, the film was being shown in the United States for the first time in an English-subtitled 90-minute version.

Thanking all who had participated and supported the endeavour and welcoming the audience, she stressed that it was impossible to separate Arafat’s life from the cause of the Palestinian people, just as it was impossible to separate their cause from his life.

He relates a conversation with Constantin Munteaunu, a general assigned to teach Arafat and the Palestinian Liberation Organization operations in deception and influence designed to fool the West into granting the organization recognition.

"I just called the microphone monitoring center to ask about the 'Fedayee,'" Arafat's code name, explained Munteaunu. "After the meeting with the Comrade, he went directly to the guest house and had dinner. At this very moment, the 'Fedayee' is in his bedroom making love to his bodyguard. The one I knew was his latest lover. He's playing tiger again. The officer monitoring his microphones connected me live with the bedroom, and the squawling almost broke my eardrums. Arafat was roaring like a tiger, and his lover yelping like a hyena."

Munteaunu continued: "I've never before seen so much cleverness, blood and filth all together in one man."

Munteaunu, wrote Pacepa, spent months pulling together secret reports from Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian intelligence agencies as well as Romanian files.

"I used to think I knew just about everything there was to know about Rahman al-Qudwa," Arafat's real name, "about the construction engineer who made a fortune in Kuwait, about the passionate collector of racing cars, about Abu Amman," Arafat's nom de guerre, "and about my friend Yasser, with all his hysterics," explained Munteaunu, handing Pacepa his final report on the PLO leader. "But I've got to admit that I didn't really know anything about him."

Wrote Pacepa: "The report was indeed an incredible account of fanaticism, of devotion to his cause, of tangled oriental political maneuvers, of lies, of embezzled PLO funds deposited in Swiss banks, and of homosexual relationships, beginning with his teacher when he was a teen-ager and ending with his current bodyguards. After reading the report, I felt a compulsion to take a shower whenever I had been kissed by Arafat, or even just shaken his hand."

Labels: Yasser Arafat

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:45 AM