The Legacy of Arafat

Today I learned the name and fate of Aziz Tzalha in the Israel Insider. Tzalha was found complicit in the truly horrific lynching of two Israeli reservists who had the misfortune of taking a wrong turn in the West Bank. Tzalha is pictured below with his bloodied hands raised in triumph that was shown throughout the world in October 2000.

A Palestinian man photographed with his bloody hands raised in triumph has been sentenced to life in prison for his role in killing one of two Israeli reserve soldiers lynched by an angry mob in 2000, the army said Monday.

The brutal killing of the two Israelis by the mob in the first weeks of the current violence became an iconic image of the hatred between Palestinians and Israelis.

A military court sentenced Aziz Tzalha, 24, to a life sentence plus one year on Sunday. Tzalha was "convicted of the murder of Cpl. Vadim Norjitz in the Ramallah lynch," the statement said.

The article gives his age as 24 which made him just 20 years old when he willingly and joyous participated in this infamous lynching under the Ramallah sun. I cannot begin to comprehend the pathology of such a warped young man, in truth, I have no desire to, it is sufficient unto the day that I recognize that such evil exists; independent and nursed by those like-minded ones who seek pleasure in another’s torment for whatever political agenda.

I admit to a certain ambivalence towards the death penalty because I want to believe in the possibility of redemption and I am concerned that in life there is not always certain knowledge that the convicted is the one to be put to death. But when there is no absence of innocence and one is so young and already well versed in evil what hope exists for redemption?

Their are those that would say where there is life and time; hope of redemption is still possible but the true legacy of Arafat is that time will only nurse and feed this young man’s and other like-minded ones warped pathology.