What the Arafat Cartoon Controversy Says about the Prospects of Palestinian Democracy https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/politics-current-affairs/2022/02/what-the-arafat-cartoon-controversy-says-about-the-prospects-of-palestinian-democracy/

February 2, 2022 | Ben Cohen
About the author: Ben Cohen, a New York-based writer, has contributed essays on anti-Semitism and related issues to Mosaic and other publications.

Recently, the Yasir Arafat Museum in Ramallah decided to remove several depictions of the terrorist leader, on the grounds that they are “offensive.” Ben Cohen examines the incident, and what it says about what a Palestinian state might look like:

The principle underlying this act of censorship is one that Arafat himself would have appreciated; a client of the Soviet Union who spent much of his time meeting with dictators in the Communist bloc and in the Arab world, Arafat was an admirer of those systems of government where the state is the ultimate regulator of what the people living under its jurisdiction see, hear, and read.

In totalitarian states, artistic depictions of leaders are by definition sycophantic. From the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin to North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, from Chairman Mao of China to the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the official portraits of those who wield near-unlimited power invariably show them as steely-jawed and commanding the love of their people; as strong and paternal; and as courageously unwavering in their convictions.

Less so was the case with the portraits of Arafat chosen for display at the museum in Ramallah. . . . One might conclude that there is some gentle mockery in these caricatures, though nothing that could be considered insulting, and certainly nothing that could be construed as a slur on either Arafat’s Arab nationality or his Muslim faith—a marked divergence from the anti-Semitic tropes and Nazi imagery that routinely accompanies Arab and even some Western caricatures of Israel’s elected leaders.

Unquestionably, what transpired in Ramallah was a victory for censorship. It is also another strong reminder of the absence of a democratic culture in Palestinian politics. . . . Those Palestinian artists who forget to censor themselves can expect a visit from Fatah’s enforcers in the not-too-distant future.

Read more on JNS: https://www.jns.org/opinion/what-the-row-over-caricatures-of-yasser-arafat-tells-us-about-palestinian-politics/