No One Would Terrorize Palestinian People: Arafat

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, February 21, 2002

No One Would Terrorize Palestinian People: Arafat

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Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said on Wednesday that the latest Israeli attacks on his headquarters in Gaza and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) would never frighten or terrify either him or the Palestinian people.

Arafat made the remarks after Israeli commando units raided his beachside headquarters in Gaza and shelled around his office, in which four of his bodyguards were killed.

Speaking to reporters, Arafat said "Danger? What does danger mean? ... No one would be able to terrorize our people."

Israeli F-16 warplanes, Apache helicopters and tanks launched an intensive and wide predawn raids on Palestinian targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip Wednesday, during which 18 Palestinians were killed.

The Israeli attacks were in retaliation for the killing of six Israeli soldiers in a Palestinian attack on a checkpoint close to the West Bank city of Ramallah Tuesday night.

Palestinians sources said that among the 18 palestinians killed, 10 were killed in the West Bank town of Nablus, four of Arafat's bodyguards in Gaza, and two elite Force 17 officers in Ramallah.

"Their [Israelis] tanks can never break the will and determination of the Palestinian people. Did their tanks defeat us in Beirut (in 1982) despite the warplanes fighters strong shelling?" said Arafat.

Arafat said that in less than one day the Israelis killed 18 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, adding that "Their warplanes airstrikes to our prisons and our establishments would never terrify us."

However, Arafat said that he hopes that U.S. President George W. Bush would "intervene" and continue the peace process "that his father (former U.S. President George Bush) started in Madrid's peace conference in 1993."

"We want to achieve the peace of the braves, not only for the Palestinian people, but also for the Israeli people, for the sake of their children and our children," stressed Arafat.

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