Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 17, 1993 TAG: 9309170019
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Newsday
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
And by the end of his two-day romp past the open mouth of the public, Yasser Arafat was no longer being portrayed as a terrorist radical. In the camera's lens, he had become the stubbly face of Arab moderation, an ambassador of peace, a statesman.
"The transformation was instant," said Jon Katz, the media critic of Rolling Stone. "The images of him with all those world leaders suddenly leveled the playing field, whatever his past. Two years ago he was a demon for siding with Saddam Hussein, and now he's a major head of state."
But many observers remained stunned at the swiftness of Arafat's image makeover in the United States, shaking their heads at the American ability - longing, really - to forgive and forget.
Students of the Middle East may have known that Arafat was actually a moderating influence among extremist factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization, but that was at variance with his popular image. Many Americans well remembered him standing at the U.N. podium in 1974 wearing a gun. His tirades about the Palestinians eventually "liberating" Israel were difficult to forget.
But the world had become weary of what seemed to be the eternally violent landscape of the region. Anyone willing to step forward and break the stalemate was a candidate for instant lionization. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was little known on the world stage when he suddenly became an international hero for making peace with Israel. Israeli Premier Menachem Begin had his own terrorist past, but that was forgiven when he joined Sadat in signing the Camp David accords in 1979.
David Garth, a political imagemaker, said Arafat's metamorphosis in public opinion is the product of hope rather than public-relations manipulation.
"To make this thing work, Arafat had to have a positive image," Garth said.
by CNB