“Nothing is predictable at the moment,” said Ahmad B. Khairi ’08, a Matthews Hall resident from East Jerusalem. “Leadership change would be great but might not turn out to be peaceful.”
Khairi said he does not support Arafat politically, but that the Palestinian leader “deserves to be remembered... He has done for peace as much as [Yitzhak] Rabin has done,” Khairi said, referring to the Israeli prime minister who was assassinated exactly nine years ago yesterday.
But Jessica M. Marglin ’06, co-chair of the Progressive Jewish Alliance, said she did not expect to see large events on campus mourning Arafat’s death.
“A memorial service would seriously alienate a lot of people who thought Arafat was a terrorist,” Marglin said.
Hebah M. Ismail ’06 of the Palestine Solidarity Committee said last night that the group is not planning a vigil for Arafat.
“His Nobel peace prize is—to say the least—a sham, and honoring him would be undignified,” Trager said.
—Staff writer Daniel J. Hemel can be reached at hemel@fas.harvard.edu.