WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In history, one man can make a difference. This is the insight that has provoked historians to confect what is called the Great Man theory of history.
For instance, had there never been a Napoleon Bonaparte, Europe would have remained an eighteenth century theme park far into the nineteenth century. Had there never been an Adolf Hitler, Europe would have remained a nineteenth century theme park far into the twentieth century or at least until Josef Stalin made his move on Central Europe.
Incidentally, who would have stood up to Stalin in, say, 1940? I suppose the challenge would have fallen to Winston Churchill, but without Hitler's remilitarization of Germany to provoke Churchill's resistance in the 1930s, there might not have been a Churchill in the British government. Would the French have stood up to Stalin? Would the Germans under one of their postwar liberals?
I doubt it. Great men of evil character spread evil, and great men of good character oppose them. Yasser Arafat is a man who has made a difference, and the difference has led to violence and carnage, anarchy and war. He is the great man of evil character, and he has yet to run up against a great man of good character equal to the task of eliminating him. Possibly Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon can rise to the occasion. Last week, Israel's Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert suggested killing Arafat as "one of the options" in dealing with him.
There is no doubt the Israelis could kill him. In response to Palestinian terrorist organizations' murder of civilians within Israel, the Israeli military has been killing terrorist leaders. The chief terrorist leader is Arafat, and his whereabouts is never a secret. A surgical strike with missiles would end Arafat's mischief.
The Israelis have been contemplating another option. For over a year, they have considered grabbing Arafat and shipping him out of his West Bank headquarters to another country. This would not be the first time Arafat's penchant for mischief and mayhem has led to his reluctant departure from a country. Since 1967, he has been forcibly removed from five countries, all of them Arab. Jordanians, Lebanese and Syrians have all forced him from their country, and he has always landed in another Arab jurisdiction. Now the Israelis contemplate shipping him abroad. But where to send him?