That Time Syrian Defense Minister Called Arafat ‘Son Of 60,000 Whores’

Illustrative image. (Screengrab\MEMRI)

It was 1999 when Syria’s Defense Minister at the time Mustafa Tlass, a veteran of two wars with Israel, burst into a public rant against Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat over a visit to the White House calling him the “son of 60,000 whores.”

This moment, unprecedented during the era of President Hafez al-Assad who practiced the most disciplined form of diplomacy, highlighted deep frustration in Damascus over the route the Palestinian cause took under the leadership of Arafat, which ultimately proved to be disastrous on all levels.

The rant came in August of that year, during an address at Ras al-Ain, in the Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon, at a ceremony marking Syrian and Lebanese “Army Day.”

Referring to Arafat, Tlass exclaimed: “You son of 60,000 whores. You should not have been so cowardly and submissive at the White House.”

“You should have said that Jerusalem is the unified capital of the future Palestinian state. But you just stood there like a black cat and didn’t dare utter a word, either about Palestine or Jerusalem.”

Tlass went on to compare Arafat to a stripper.

“In his concessions to Israel, Yasser Arafat resembles a striptease dancer who removes more of her clothing whenever she ascends the stage,” he said.

“Look at him when he is on stage. He moves from concession to concession like the stripper, except that she becomes more beautiful with every layer she removes, while Yasser Arafat becomes uglier.”

Damascus was never on good terms with Arafat, but its relation with him reached a historic low with the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.

Hafez viewed the accords, which were engineered by the United States, as a betrayal of Arab unity, a threat to Syria’s strategic interests and harmful for the Palestinian cause.

As time went by, Syria’s concerns materialized. Israel went on to sabotage all peace talks with the Palestinian Authority, and since 1993 settlement in the occupied West Bank has seen significant and sustained growth. Even the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005 ended up dividing Palestinians like never before.

Worst of all were the terms on security coordination. These terms which were meant to guarantee the security of both sides were quickly reduced into an instrument in Israel’s hands to exert dominance over occupied Palestinian territories. In fact, it can be argued that without security coordination, settlement would not have expanded in the West Bank to the levels we see today.

Palestinian security forces are not only barred from challenging Israeli authorities under these terms, but also forced to facilitate their operations in the West Bank.

No agreement is better than a bad agreement, and Tlass was absolutely right in criticizing Arafat for making so many concessions just to solidify his personal authority over Palestinian territories, which remain to this day occupied.

Despite making all of these concessions, in 2004 Arafat died of sudden illness inside his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, which had been besieged by Israeli forces for more than two years at the time. All sides in Palestine deemed his death the result of an assassination by Israel.

Now more than 25 years after Tlass’ fiery speech, Syria’s President, or more technically interim President, is preparing to visit the White House.

Just like Arafat, Ahmad al-Sharaa, who took power after overthrowing Hafez’s son Bashar last year, has been regarded as a “terrorist” by the U.S. for most of his life. And just like the Palestinian leader, Washington is now offering him a chance to solidify his authority over the war-torn country by signing off on certain issues.

Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda leader, will meet President Donlad Trump to sign an agreement making Syria a part of the so-called anti-ISIS coalition.

It is even reported that Sharaa will be granting the U.S. military an air base in Damascus, located just a few kilometers away from his palace.

Trump, however, is expecting more, much more from Sharaa, namely a security agreement with Israel. Sharaa is facing immense pressure to sign the agreement, which is reported to be 99% complete, before the end of the year.

All available information on the draft of the agreement suggests that its main principles are in line with the security coordination terms from the Oslo Accords and that it stops short from discussing the issue of Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights.

In short, Israel wants a free hand over southern Syria. The Israeli military invaded a part of the region, including the strategic Mount Hermon peak, the moment Sharaa entered Damascus and has since been conducting near-daily security operations there.

Reports also suggest that Israel is eyeing a corridor to the al-Suwayda where Druze fighters it supports are currently demanding independence from Syria. It was even reported that Israel wants Syria to commit to not rebuilding its air defenses, ever.

Syria has already rejected many of these demands, according to multiple reports. However, it will all go down to the fact if Sharaa could say “no” to the face of Trump when he asks him at the White House to sign the agreement. It won’t be even surprising if Trump attempts to get the Syrian president to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and finalize the agreement while still in Washington. After all, Trump really likes to get things done quickly.

Considering all of this, Sharaa’s visit to the White House poses more risk for him than he may have been driven to believe by his backers in Turkey and the Gulf.

So, will Sharaa dare to “utter a word” against Israel in the face of Trump and bear the consequences? Or will he stand silently like a “black cat” in the White House after making all the concessions needed to appease Trump?

And if the latter happens, what will be of him and Syria in five years? Will he get away with just being called the “son of 60,000 whores” in some angry rant as Israel dominates the south of the country? Or will he die of sudden illness in his palace next to the U.S. base in Damascus after singing off on everything? Maybe both will happen and the tale of Arafat will repeat itself with Sharaa!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence

NOW hosted at southfront.press

Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.

The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation

Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com

SOUTHFRONT.PRESS

MORE ON THIS TOPIC: