Reuven Koret is publisher of israelinsider and CEO of Koret Communications.
More from Reuven Koret
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	IDF naval commandos seize PA-bound weapons ship

The Palestinian Authority formally announced, with great fanfare, that it had arrested three officials involved in trying to smuggle 50 tons of weapons. But Israeli intelligence reported that Major-General Fuad Shubaki, of those the PA said had been arrested, is in Ramallah and has not been detained "in any way at all." The other two are abroad.

When that latter fact was pointed out, the Palestinians issued a clarification: arrest warrants were issued.

Earlier in the week Arafat had denied that Palestinians had anything to do with the ship, the capture of which was called Israeli propaganda to distract attention from the visit of the U.S. envoy. Suddenly, lo and behold, Arafat "arrests" the guilty parties in Ramallah, admitting that senior Palestinian Authority officials were involved in a "rogue operation."

He's right. The guilty parties are indeed under arrest in Ramallah. And they are rogues.

Arafat can roam far and wide, from one end of the town to the other. He can have an espresso with Major-General Shubaki or the head of the PFLP, who claimed credit for killing Israeli minister Rechavam Zeevi. But he can't leave town unless he asks the Israeli tank commanders "pretty please." He hasn't asked yet.

Arafat could be free to wander the capitals of the world, receiving hugs and kisses and praise. Even in the last few weeks, following his speech "disavowing" the armed struggle, he could have pointed to the period of relative quiet and begun his rehabilitation, at least in the eyes of gullible Americans and Europeans.

Instead, he tried to sneak in fifty tons of offensive weapons, and then lie in the face of the Americans and the Europeans, not to mention the Egyptians, who made a big show of not having a clue about what the Palestinian captain sought to bring through the Suez Canal.

Some far left Israelis have rushed to defend Arafat. They compared his smuggling to that of the Jewish underground in the War of Independence. We did the same thing, they say.

In June, 1948, just after Israeli independence was declared, the ship Altalena was chartered by the Irgun to bring in badly-needed weapons to fight the Arab armies that had invaded Israel following its declaration of independence.

Ben-Gurion ordered then General Moshe Dayan to fire on the Altalena, with Menachem Begin, leader of the dissident faction, aboard. Sixteen Irgun fighters were killed. The arms sank with the ship.

No one any longer expects Arafat to emulate Ben-Gurion, as some Israelis urge him to do. When push comes to shove, he will not face down the Hamas and Islamic Jihad, groups which last week called off their "cease-fire" which, in any case, never precluded attacks against Israeli settlers and soldiers. He will not rein in his Fatah organization, the Tanzim, or Force 17. He will not control his own uniformed security forces. This week four Israeli Bedouin Arab soldiers were gunned down by Palestinian "policemen."

The point is not that Arafat is unwilling or unable to stand up to the terrorists. Arafat is, and always has been, the master terrorist. Unlike some of his more outspoken terrorist colleague, he has mastered the art of duplicity. But, it seems, he has now lied more than once too often.

The point is not that Arafat is trying to bring in arms to back his war of independence.

The point is that, should the Palestinians ever gain a "viable state," there will be no way to stop the flow of weapons. Not on ships. Not on planes. Not on trucks. They will no longer need to build tunnels. The West Bank and Gaza will become the forward base of the soon-to-be-nuclear-powered Iranian arsenal and the Islamic Revolution. That is the grim reality that Arafat has now revealed for all hands on deck to see.

Back in 1993, the captains of the Oslo Accords promised the people of Israel that the Palestinians had renounced violence and abandoned their plan to destroy the Jewish State in phases. There would be a few police stations with just enough policeman and just enough rifles to control the militants. Eventually, perhaps, after a long testing period, there would be an independent Palestinian state, but only a friendly, demilitarized one, with close cultural and economic ties, living in peace and harmony with Israel.

Ever since, Arafat and his supporters--at least when they speak in English--have been crying "peace," in between attacks.

Some of the people believed it in 1993. Some still believe it.

But not many.

Scurrying from one false hope and broken promise to another, working themselves into a feeding frenzy each time they have a chance to attack Israeli policies and practices rather than Palestinian duplicities and piracies, they may be the last to abandon the sinking ship.

But don't bet on it.

Views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.

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