Same Bush, only more

Editorial

The death of Yasser Arafat, after a lingering illness and years of failure as a peacemaker, will prove less significant than the actions and attitudes his death elicits among his supporters at home and abroad. The near-silence that has met the Palestinian leader's illness may be a sign that the world and his own people don't know yet what to make of Arafat's legacy.

There are those who will mourn him. Perhaps some North American young people will adorn T-shirts with his likeness, in place of the Che Guevaras they wear now. If we have any sense of justice, we will mourn his death as we mourn the loss of every human life and move toward a more peaceful future.

At the same time that Arafat lay dying in a Paris hospital, George W. Bush was given a lifesaving reprieve. Bush, whose victory is credited to millions of newly activated conservative Christians, has allowed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to go untended more than any president in three decades, even though conservative Christians and others among his core constituency place Zionism among their top concerns. A President Kerry, had there been one, could have been expected to be as supportive as Bush toward Israel but not nearly as divisive. Alas, that was not to be and, though Israel's right to exist may be a source of great lip-service from Bush, his policy agenda is tied up elsewhere.

A (legitimately) re-elected Bush will be like the first-term Bush, only more so. The administration is busy "freeing" Iraq, banning gay marriage, blurring the lines between religion and state and rebuilding the Supreme Court in a conservative image for a generation to come.

Though unlikely to benefit from any positive acts by the Bush administration, Israel and overseas Zionists will suffer from the ill will that seems certain to spread in reaction to an emboldened Bush administration. As Israel's only reliable friend in the world becomes more and more isolated on the international stage, Israel will feel the familiar sting of that isolation.

Rarely in recent history has it been so difficult to predict near-future events. With new leadership for the Palestinian people and an emboldened conservative at the American helm, the status quo might be shaken up significantly. And, though the status quo has been no bed of roses, Jewish history reminds us that times of change can be no holiday in Yalta, either.

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