...let 'em have it with both barrels!

This article oughta provide sufficient ammo:

[size=4]Arafat, Elected?[/size=4]
[b]The sham 1996 vote.[/b]

By Joel Mowbray

In the New York Times earlier this week, former President Jimmy Carter casually remarked that the 1996 Palestinian elections were "open and fair." Carter, of all people, knows better — [b]Yasser Arafat has never been fairly elected the leader of anything, let alone the Palestinian people[/b].

Seven years ago, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) made its grand conversion from bloody terrorist outfit to a governing body with ostensibly fair elections. Over 600 international observers, including Carter, gave the process a seal of approval, and newspapers from Berlin to Los Angeles trumpeted the triumph of democracy in the Palestinian territories.

But the Palestinian people were conned — they believed a real election had taken place, and why wouldn't they? Throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, every wall and every street light had played host to posters with the red, green, black, and white colors of the Palestinian flag, and people walked into voting booths just like people in real democracies do.

There were over 700 candidates from a multitude of parties and slates, and politicians were pressing the flesh on every street corner. Turnout topped 70 percent, and Palestinians honestly believed that they had embarked on a path to true democracy.

But what seemed like a legitimate election was little more than an elaborate charade, a fraud perpetrated on the Palestinian people. The shenanigans started a few months before the international observers set foot in the Middle East.

Much like American primaries, Fatah held internal elections to decide the people to represent the party on the ballot for each given seat. [b]Arafat, however, didn't like the results, so he cast them aside and created his own slate[/b]. Come Election Day, most of the "independents" who actually won council seats were Fatah members kicked off the official slate by Arafat.

Several groups, including Peace Watch, noted that Arafat and his minions had, in the months leading up to the election, intimidated political activists, arrested some political opponents, and bribed others to exit races.

Despite heavy-handedness by Arafat in the races for the 88-seat Palestinian National Council (PNC), at least there were real challengers for many of those contests. At the top of the ticket, however, Arafat only faced what could generously be described as token opposition.

[b]The lone person to oppose Arafat on the ballot was a 72-year-old social worker, Samiha Khalil[/b]. She shocked the international press with what the New York Times labeled a "surprisingly high" number of votes. Her final, "surprisingly high" tally? 9.3 percent of the vote.

See remainder of article at:[url]http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-mowbray042502.asp[/url]

Eric The(NowHearThis,NowHearThis)Hun[>]:)]

Dagnabbit! Didn't I just tell you not to say that?

[b]VA-gunnut[/b], I'll let you go with just a warning, but next time it will be my Israeli uncle, Shlomo Ben Hun, and his D-9 cat headed toward your home!

Eric The(NothingStandsInTheWayOfACaterpilar)Hun[>]:)]

Ok, ok, need a triva answer here...

Where was Arafat born?!?!?!

cant answer where he was born.. but I bet he was educated in the US, arent all the "good" international terroist educaded here?

guzzler...
[url]http://www.britannica.com/nobel/micro/30_1.html[/url]

"The date and place of Arafat's birth are disputed. A birth certificate registered in Cairo, Egypt, gives Aug. 24, 1929. Some sources, however, have supported Arafat's claim to have been born in Jerusalem on Aug. 4, 1929, and still others have given Gaza, Palestine, as his birthplace."

BINGO!!!

The asshole isn't a Palestinian! The "other" places of birth have been made up to substantiate his claims that he should be the represenative of the Palestinians.

The man lies, cheats and steals. Sound familiar?!?