Kindgo
Advanced Member
Member # 2
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Weekend News Today
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Lead: Karen
Source: Jerusalem Post
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Sat Sep 28,2002 -- Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat vowed yesterday to continue his struggle for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. The remarks made by telephone from his besieged and largely destroyed Ramallah compound were transmitted to thousands of Palestinians at a Gaza rally marking the second year of the Palestinian uprising. He also addressed demonstrators in the West Bank town of Kalkilya. In the Gaza Strip, over 10,000 took to the streets, Palestinian sources estimated. The demonstrators included women, children, students, and Fatah, PLO, and Hamas activists. "We, the Palestinian people, care not about the siege, because we are the stronger people!" Arafat shouted. "We reiterate on this anniversary that we are marching until victory and until the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," Arafat told the crowds. Arafat said the struggle will continue until "a child of our children... will raise the flag of Palestine over the walls of Jerusalem and the minarets of Jerusalem and the churches of Jerusalem. Noble Jerusalem will remain the capital of the Palestinian state whether anybody wants it or not," he said. "We are not only defending our holy places, Christian and Islamic, but every inch of our holy land," Arafat continued. Hamas, on the other hand, issued a statement yesterday calling for the Palestinians to "relinquish dreams of a political arrangement" and continue the "military resistance." But Palestinian officials said more and more people are supporting the idea of changing the uprising from an armed struggle to peaceful popular demonstrations. "At least they support having them separate and parallel," one Fatah source in Gaza said. Meanwhile, Palestinian legislators and Fatah officials said the siege of Arafat has strengthened the Palestinian leader, who was under growing pressure form his own Fatah movement and senior PLO figures to appoint a new government and cede some of his powers by adding a prime minister to the government. Palestinian legislators also demanded far-reaching reforms of the institutions and the security bodies and were backed by senior Fatah and PLO officials. The focus that was on the internal reforms has once again turned to Arafat and the Israeli occupation, a PA source said. Palestinian officials said they hope the US has finally realized that the situation and its unconditional support for Israel were hurting its interests in the region. They said over the weekend that they had asked the UN Security Council to convene again to formulate a resolution for the implementation of UN Resolution 1435, which calls for an Israeli withdrawal from the Mukata and the PA areas and demands that Palestinians fight terrorism and bring terrorist suspects to justice. Palestinian officials said Arafat would never agree to let Israel exile the fugitives who are holed up with him, nor would he agree to send them to jail, since that would mean committing political suicide. He instead is hoping international pressure will force Israel to withdraw. However, a Palestinian source said Arafat may agree to send the fugitives to the Gaza Strip. A Palestinian source said he believes a compromise could be worked out with the help of the international community to let both Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Arafat "save face
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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