Arafat was back and so were they - in body and in mind - from the crawling years of alienation. They bathed in national symbols and spoke of victory. Girls wrapped their hair in Palestinian flags. Little boys toddled in army fatigues. Women danced balancing gold-framed portraits of Arafat on their heads. Today their crush of problems eased. Today the nation known as "the people of nowhere" were gathering home.

After months of anticipation and 27 years of separation, the reunion finally happened, on a sandy lot under a sky that glowed like melted glass. Arafat, known as "The Old Man," came to see his sons and daughters, who wandered dazed, overwhelmed, jostling for lemon ices, riveted by the helicopters swirling above.

"Our family was scattered - in jail, in exile," said Muhammed Khader, fluttering through the mob in a long gray robe, squeezing his 9-year-old son's hand. "Today is a reunion for the entire Palestinian family."

It was the greatest day of their lives, many said. Men whistled and women waved branches with fiery orange flowers. Love songs, banned during the Palestinian uprising, poured from radios. People fainted and ambulance sirens lashed down the rutted roads. Soldiers fired cascades into the air as organizers cried, "No shooting!" The warm smell of gunpowder soaked their hair.

They were everywhere, pressed together, sprouting like fronds of a palm tree, hanging from the wire that strung up welcome banners, huddled on the empty platform where a statue of the unknown soldier once stood - live fighters waving an enormous flag. They shouted slogans and bit down and felt sand in their teeth. Then they shouted some more: "With our blood and soul, we will sacrifice for you!"

What really happened - (1) From "Promises but never Peace," April 3, 2002 by Michael Kelly:

Arafat's entry into Gaza was an object lesson: a purposely uncaring display of brute power. He arrived from the Sinai in a long caravan of Chevrolet Blazers and Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs, 70 or 80 cars packed to the rooflines with men with guns. The caravan roared up the thronged roads and down the mobbed streets, with the overfed, leather-jacketed, sunglassed thugs of Arafat's bodyguard detail all the time screaming and shooting off their Kalashnikovs to make their beloved people scurry out of their beloved leader's way.

This was the whole of the Palestinian Authority from the beginning, an ugly little cartoon of Middle East despotism. There was never any pretense of democracy, of rule of law, of a free press, of a working system of taxes or courts or hospitals. There was never any real government. No one ever bothered to build an economy or create jobs or even pick up the trash or pave the streets. There were only security forces -- many, many of these -- and villas by the sea for Arafat's cronies, and millions of dollars in foreign aid that seemed to always turn up missing, and prisons and propaganda. And in the middle of it all: "President" Arafat sitting in a room -- surrounded by waiting sycophants and toadies and respectful ladies and gentlemen of the press -- and complaining.

(2)After the Roadmap - By Lenny Ben-David in National Review Online, December 22, 2003

When Arafat rode into Gaza from Egypt for the first time in July 1994 — another great "moment" in modern history — Israeli intelligence officers noted how low the car was riding and how high up in the seat Arafat was sitting. Crammed into the Mercedes with (and under) Arafat were contraband weapons and terrorist operatives who were banned from entering the Palestinian territories. Israeli security sources also believe Arafat smuggled weaponry in his private jet after the Gaza airport opened with much media hoopla.

NOW:What's reported - Israelis Hand Off Gaza Crossing by Scott Wilson, The Washington Post, Nov 26, 2005:

Palestinians celebrated a step toward independence from Israel on Friday with a jubilant ceremony opening the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, their first self-governed passage to the outside world.

The event marked a milestone in the long Palestinian-Israeli conflict by giving a Palestinian government control over an international border crossing for the first time. The opening is the most tangible benefit the Palestinian Authority has gained since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza a little over two months ago, an evacuation that ended a 38-year Israeli presence in the strip but left its borders under Israel's control.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who stands to benefit politically from Rafah's opening, told roughly 1,200 Palestinians, European diplomats and Egyptian officials who will help monitor the border that the measure of autonomy was "a dream that has come true for us." But he said the opening was a modest step and pledged further progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel that would include the more populous West Bank.

What really happened - Top Hamas fugitive gets back into Gaza via Rafah

Rafik al-Hasanat, a senior member of Hamas who has been wanted by Israel for more than a decade, on Wednesday night returned to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing.

The terminal was opened for a few hours on Wednesday to allow hundreds of Palestinians stranded on the Egyptian side to return home to the Gaza Strip. Hasanat is one of several Hamas fugitives who have returned to Gaza after Israel relinquished control over the Rafah border crossing.

A senior member of the armed wing of Hamas, Izzaddin Kassam, Hasanat fled to Egypt in 1993 after he learned that the IDF was searching for him because of his involvement in terror attacks. Since then he has been hiding in Sudan, Yemen, Libya and Jordan.

via IRIS, and Elder of Ziyon.

Reality isn't so glorious when you look a little closer. If you care too.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Gaza, PLO.

Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.