Sharon Responsible for Current Wave of Violence: Arafat

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, February 11, 2002

Sharon Responsible for Current Wave of Violence: Arafat

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Sunday accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for the current wave of violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

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Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Sunday accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for the current wave of violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

While receiving a Palestinian delegation representing Palestinian refugees that came to show solidarity with him, Arafat said "No one would be able to force the Palestinian people to kneel, and they would do only for Allah."

Arafat has been under the Israeli army blockade at his Ramallah headquarters since early December. Sharon insisted that Arafat would never leave Ramallah until he (Arafat) end what Sharon described as "violence against Israel."

During the meeting with the delegation, Arafat received the news that Israeli F-16 warplanes attacked one of his security installations in the western part of Gaza City, where 10 people were injured.

"They [Israelis] still think that they would force our people to kneel to them. This people would never kneel to them," vowed Arafat. "Their tanks and warplanes would never force our people to kneel."

Arafat ridiculed a statement made earlier by Sharon during which the Israeli prime minister claimed that Arafat is over and is out of the game, saying that "I would tell him that I still earn the widest support among my people."

"Who lives with the toughest people [Palestinians] can never be over, isolated or out of the game," added Arafat.

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