Arafat commemorated in Ramallah
On second anniversary of his death, thousands flock to Muqata for memorial ceremony of late PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. Abbas: Israel kills women, children, elderly and we have chosen peace
Leaders of the various Palestinian organizations, representatives of the diplomatic corps, as well as members of Knesset from the Arab parties and Israeli peace activists are participating in the ceremony.
Abbas: Jerusalem will be our capital
"Israel kills women, children, and elderly. Not a day passes that the Israeli occupation doesn't commit a crime," said PA President Mahmoud Abbas in his speech at the ceremony in Ramallah.
Abbas added: "Israel is taking steps against us of siege and collective punishment. In addition to the settlements and the separation fence, they have turned out cities into large prisons and detainment camps. The settlements are illegal, and ultimately Jerusalem will be our capital."
"The fence is an artificial reality that has been forced on us. It and the occupation will, God willing, disappear in the end. There won't be security in the shadow of the fence and the settlements," Abbas continued.
The Palestinian president continued on in his speech to say that the Palestinian people want peace, but under certain conditions on which they won't concede: "Israel must withdraw to the '67 borders if it wants peace. It must recognize our rights.
"The time has come for the Israeli government to understand that the continuation of the occupation and military force, strong as it may be, won't subdue our people. And the price won't be in Israel's favor," he said.
"There won't be peace as long as thousand of Palestinians, including ministers, members of parliament, and mayors, are imprisoned in Israeli jails. I say to our prisoners: You are the top issue keeping us busy every day, and we won't sit still until you are free. You're freedom is the freedom of our people and our homeland.
"We, the Palestinians, have chosen the path of peace, the path of negotiation. We have adopted the outlook of President Bush for two states and we have adopted the Arab Peace Initiative and have initiated unilateral quiet. However, the Israeli government is missing this opportunity for peace and is running from sitting around the negotiating table. Instead, Israel continues its policy of settlements, siege, and invading our land, like what happened in Beit Hanoun," he continued.
According to him, "The era of occupation and of one nation oppressing another in the world is over. We will continue to hold onto our land until we achieve our independence. Arafat's oath is our oath, and his fate is our fate. The torch of liberation carried by Arafat since '65 will continue to be held up by us despite the crimes of the occupation."
Arab MK: Israel's security won't be achieved by killing children
Hadash Chairman Mohammad Barakeh spoke at the ceremony and was presented to the audience as a "representative of the Palestinians living in 1948 territory." Barakeh called Arafat an "outstanding leader who struck at his enemies while under siege" in his opening remarks and continued to shower compliments on Arafat throughout his speech while condemning the incident in Beit Hanoun."We are saying to the people of Israel that your security won't be achieved by killing our children," said Barakeh. "You must stop standing against what is happening to our people. The shoes of the child from Beit Hanoun stomps on the head of the Israeli empire."
Barakeh was cheered by the masses when he referred to Avigdor Lieberman saying, "Lieberman wants to expel us, but we will remain here even after he goes."
MK Ahmad Tibi didn't go to the rally, bu said, "Arafat is no more, but the kaffiyeh, which is the symbol of the struggle for liberating Palestine, is still present. He is the leader of an entire nation and his burial in Ramallah is temporary until he is transferred to Jerusalem."
'Israel will regret the missed opportunities with Arafat'
Opinion polls taken recently in the Palestinian Authority indicate that the former president may be dead, but his spirit lives on in the PA. According to recent polls, the Palestinian public is still convinced that Arafat, who died from disease in a Paris hospital, didn't die a natural death, but was poisoned by Israeli agents.
Ceremonies commemorating Arafat have been held in every village and town throughout the Palestinian Authority and in almost every place in which there is a monument immortalizing the late leader in the past few days.
A Palestinian reporter surveying the office of the president in the PA said that to this day clerks in the office, particularly in the presidential guard, bring up Arafat and talk about him a lot. "There is complete agreement that if Arafat were alive, the situation would be different," he testified.
"Perhaps the long-awaited Palestinian state wouldn't have yet been established," he added, "but what happened in the elections certainly wouldn't have happened. It also isn't certain that the elections would have occurred. No one has any doubt that Israel will regret the opportunities it missed to reach an agreement with Arafat."
