Freed Arafat Vows to Continue Struggle

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, September 30, 2002

Freed Arafat Vows to Continue Struggle

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat madehis first appearance Sunday after Israel eased its 10-day siege on his compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian sources said.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

After 11 days of being under the tightened siege imposed by Israel on his office, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat stepped out of his office in Ramallah carried on his bodyguards' shoulders waving with V signs for victory by his fingers.

Arafat went out of his office with a wide smile on his face, for the first time after Israeli army tanks and armored vehicles pullout of his compound and stationed outside.

It is not a withdrawal at all. Pulling out from here means that they (Israelis) turned around the United Nations Security Council to deceive the world public opinion, Arafat told reporters who managed to infiltrate the barbed wire that surrounded Arafat's office.

Arafat said that he considers the Israeli pullout from the compound and ending the besiege imposed on his office as misleading, forging and deceiving the world. "We will never turnover any Palestinian to Israel," he stressed.

Arafat made fun out of the Israeli pullout from around his office into Al Muqata as saying that the pullout is mockery and recklessness to the UN Security council resolution.

It is actually a violation of the text and the soul of the resolution, he added.

The siege was not only imposed on Al Muqata only. It is imposed on all the Palestinian towns, villages and refugee camp, and it must be lifted immediately, urged Arafat.

Arafat noted that the Palestinians would continue their contacts with the Arab leaders, the Quartet Committee and the international community until the complete implementation of the UN Security Council resolution 1435.

The Israeli army had finalized its pullout from Arafat's compound after most of the buildings and the caravans were either destroyed by bulldozers or blown up by explosives.

Palestinian witnesses said that about 20 tanks and armored vehicles left the compound after staying into there for 11 days, and some of them stationed outside the compound to observe the place and prevent any attempt of Palestinian militants on an Israeli wanted list to leave the place.

The Israeli army pullout from the Al Muqata came due to pressure practiced by the United States to end the siege on Arafat.

The Israeli cabinet decided on Sunday morning to end the siege and pullout the tanks from inside the compound.

After the tanks left Al Muqata, the Israeli army blocked all the entrances and exits that lead into the place by hills of sands and big stones.

The Israeli pullout also came in the wake of 2nd anniversary of Palestinian uprising, which has brought thousands of Palestinians to go to streets in Gaza and West Bank to protest against Israeli siege of Arafat.

The Palestinian first uprising against Israel broke out in Gaza following the killing of Isam and three other Palestinian workers by an Israeli truck at the Erez crossing point on December 9, 1987.

The intifada had been raging until Israel and the Palestinians signed the Oslo peace accords in 1993 and the PNA gained self-rule over some areas in the West Bank and Gaza.

But the Palestinians began the ongoing Intifada amid raging bloody clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians, which were triggered by Israeli then right-winger and now Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's provocative visit to a disputed site in East Jerusalem on September 28 in 2000.

During the past two years, the conflict between the Palestinians and Israeli troops has been escalating, which has so far claimed lives of about 2540 people, including 1,875 Palestinians and 614 Israelis, with the balance made up of foreign nationals.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Israeli Tanks Leave Arafat's Ramallah Compound

Bush Sent Message Urging Sharon to End Arafat Siege

Arafat Vows to Continue Fighting

'Taiwan Independence': Greatest Threat to Taiwan Straits Peace ( 5 Messages)