Barbara Slavin

USA Today’s Arafat Obituary Distorts History

Yasir Arafat is buried as he lived, in a shroud of lies. These include lies of commission, omission and of minor facts used to obscure larger truths. Common in coverage of Arafat's death, they stem from uncritical acceptance of conventional wisdom as much as from any intent to deceive. But they are nonetheless dangerous, contributing to revisionist Arab-Israeli history.