Yasser Arafat
From Wikiquote
Yasser Arafat (1929-08-04 or 1929-08-24 – 2004-11-11) was co-founder and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (1969–2004), President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) (1993–2004), and co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.
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- Today I come bearing an olive branch in one hand, and the freedom fighter's gun in the other. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand. I repeat, do not let the olive branch fall from my hand. (Number 82)
- Speech[1] to the United Nations General Assembly, New York (1974-11-13)
- Those who call us terrorists wish to prevent world public opinion from discovering the truth about us and from seeing the justice on our faces. They seek to bide the terrorism and tyranny of their acts, and our own posture of self-defence.
- ibid. (Number 47)
- The difference between the revolutionary and the terrorist lies in the reason for which each fights. For whoever stands by a just cause and fights for the freedom and liberation of his land from the invaders, the settlers and the colonialists cannot possibly be called terrorist, otherwise the American people in their struggle for liberation from the British colonialists would have been terrorists; the European resistance against the Nazis would be terrorism, the struggle of the Asian, African and Latin American peoples would also be terrorism, and many of you who are in this Assembly hall were considered terrorists.
- ibid. (Number 48)
- The Israelis are mistaken if they think we do not have an alternative to negotiations. By Allah I swear they are wrong. The Palestinian people are prepared to sacrifice until either the last boy and the last girl raise the Palestinian flag over the walls, the churches and the mosques of Jerusalem.
- Amanpour: Secretary of State Colin Powell has spoken to you, I understand. He has also spoken publicly. He called on you to rein in the violence. What do you make of that statement, and can you and will you rein in that violence?
Arafat: Are you asking me while I am under complete siege? You are a wonderful journalist. You have to respect your profession.… No, you have to be accurately when you are speaking with General Yasser Arafat. Be quiet! … You are covering, with such questions, the terrorist activities of the Israeli occupation and the Israeli crimes. Take care not to make these fatal mistakes. Thank you. Bye, bye!- Exchange with CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour (29 March 2002) during Operation Defensive Shield
- This child, who is grasping the stone, facing the tank, is it not the greatest message to the world when that hero becomes a martyr? We are proud of them.
- I swear to God, I will see [the Palestinian state], whether as a martyr or alive. Please, God, give me the honor of becoming a martyr in the fight for Jerusalem.
- This is my homeland; no one can kick me out.
- [3] (2003-09-11), Yasser Arafat's reply to Ariel Sharon's threat to expel him from the occupied territories.
- Our basic aim is to liberate the land from the Mediterranean Seas to the Jordan River. We are not concerned with what took place in June 1967 or in eliminating the the consequences of the June war. The Palestinian revolution's basic concern is the uprooting of the Zionist entity from our land and liberating it.
- Gilbert, Martin, Israel: a history. Doubleday. 1998. ISBN 9780385404013.(p418, August 1970)
- What Kuwait did to the Palestinian people is worse than what has been done by Israel to Palestinians in the occupied territories.
[edit] About Yasser Arafat
- I do not support peace in the Middle East. And I do not support Arafat. He is a stupid, incompetent fool!... The stupid fool is a zealot, a warrior, and a clever one. But he doesn't accomplish anything.
- Muammar Gaddafi, as quoted in Lt. General Ion Mihai Pacepa (1987) Red Horizons: Chronicles of a Communist Spy Chief (Regnery Gateway, p. 110), ISBN 0895265702
- He lied all the time. And he knew it. I'd say, 'Abu Ammar [Yasser Arafat's war name], cut the crap. Let's talk serious.' And then he could either talk serious or not talk serious. He'd say nonsense.
- Terje Roed Larsen, United Nations Special Coordinator for peace negotiations in the Middle East, Quoted in "In a Ruined Country". The Atlantic Monthly. 2005-07-29.
[edit] Reactions to Yasser Arafat's Death
- The stature of a leader is not simply determined by the size of his achievements, but also by the size of the obstacles he had to overcome. In this respect, Arafat has no competitor in the world: no leader of our generation has been called upon to face such cruel tests and to cope with such adversities as he.
- Uri Avnery, Israeli Politician and Peace Activist response to Arafat's death [5]
- I respected him as a Palestinian patriot, I admired him for his courage, I understood the constraints he was working under, I saw in him the partner for building a new future for our two peoples. I was his friend.
- Uri Avnery, Israeli Politician and Peace Activist response to Arafat's death [6]
- Yasser Arafat was one of the outstanding freedom fighters of this generation, one who gave his entire life to the cause of the Palestinian people.
- Nelson Mandela, Former South African President and freedom fighter against Apartheid in South Africa [7]
- A great political leader of international significance.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin [8]
- An outstanding leader of the Palestinian cause and... an outstanding politician. He was deeply respected and supported by the Palestinian people and enjoyed great prestige among the international community.
- With him disappears a man of courage and conviction who for 40 years incarnated the Palestinians' fight for recognition of their national rights. [...] I came to bow before President Yasser Arafat and pay him a final homage.
- French President Jacques Chirac [10]
- For nearly four decades, he expressed and symbolised in his person the national aspirations of the Palestinian people.
- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan [11]
- (It is) good that the world is rid of him... The sun is shining in the Middle East.
- Israeli Justice Minister Tommy Lapid [12]
- Eternal honor and glory to the unforgettable and heroic combatant Yasser Arafat. Nothing can erase your name from the history of those great fighters who have struggled for the freedom of the peoples.
- Fidel Castro, Cuban President [13]
- Jassir Arafats Streben war zeit seines Lebens darauf gerichtet, die Palästinenser in die Unabhängigkeit zu führen und einen souveränen, lebensfähigen palästinensischen Staat zu errichten.
- As long as he lived, Yasser Arafat directed his efforts towards leading the Palestinians to independence and founding a sovereign viable Palestinian state.
- German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, letter of condolence to the then prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority Ahmed Qurei, 11 November 2004, quoted on zeit.de
