With or without Arafat

by Hans Lebrecht,

"With or without Arafat, the Palestinian people will fight for national 
liberation from Israeli occupation and for independent statehood.

"We have no tanks and no American made F-16 fighter jets or Apache gunship 
helicopters. But should the terrorist Sharon regime realise its threat to 
deport me, or assassinate me, the Palestinian people will continue, with 
even manifold strengthen the fight for national liberation and independent 
statehood with all the means at their hands down to the last drop of 
blood", declared Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

He was speaking in front of many thousands of Palestinians and Israeli 
solidarity delegations of Israeli peace forces, who assembled to protest 
against the decision of the Israeli "security cabinet", chaired by Prime 
Minister Sharon in front of the battered Muqata building in the West Bank 
town Ramallah. Israeli occupation forces have been holding Arafat 
practically as prisoner there already for about two years.

The decision, adopted by the Sharon cabinet threatens to deport Arafat from 
Palestine or to assassinate him should he and his armed guards try to 
defend themselves. This decision of the Sharon cabinet is censored not only 
by the Palestinian and Israeli peace forces, but widely also by Israeli 
media analysts and throughout the international arena.

Even the American allies of Sharon, and the U.N Security Council warned 
against the dangers to the Roadmap peace efforts, should the threatened 
step be implemented.

The prestigious Israeli daily Ha'aretz, for instance, stressed in an 
editorial that "it is a fact that in the wake of the Sharon cabinet's 
decision, the prestige of Yasser Arafat, declared by Sharon to be 
"irrelevant" has become very relevant. His prestige has risen manifoldly, 
and the Palestinian people are almost united in their support for Arafat as 
their leader in the struggle for liberation and independence".

Among the Israeli peace activists who paid a solidarity visit to the 
threatened Arafat has been a delegation of the Gush-Shalom peace bloc, 
headed by the well-known peace activist, journalist and publicist Uri 
Avnery, a delegation of the Israeli Communist Party and the democratic 
HADASH Front, headed by CP General Secretary and Knesset Member (MK) Issam 
Mahoul, the chair of HADASH, MK Muhammad Barakei, former MK Tamar 
Goszanski, as well as MK Ahmed Tibi of the Arab national Party.

"I am willing to put myself at risk and serve as a human shield, in order 
to foil PM Sharon's intention to assassinate Arafat, the elected leader and 
President of the Palestinian people. So are many of my fellow Israeli peace 
activists", said 80-year-old Avnery.

The Israel's Attorney General is considering opening a police investigation 
into those Israelis who visited Arafat, alleging that they transgressed the 
military order to close the occupied Palestinian areas to Israeli citizens.