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Farewell Arafat

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PR: 24/Arb Sec/11-11-2004
Doc: 1/11/2004

Dr. Mourad Ghaleb President of the Afro Asian Peoples’ Solidarity Organization issued the following Statement on behalf of the Permanent Secretariat

The Arab nationalist militant Head of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat passed away after a relentless struggle against the Zionist enemy and the Israeli occupation of his nation's territories and after an armed struggle that lasted more than forty years in defense of the Palestinian people's legitimate rights, their right to self determination and to establish an independent state of their own, with Jerusalem as its capital, and the refugees' right to return.

Today is a sad day in Arab history in general and in Palestinian history in particular.

At present the Palestinian issue is passing through an extremely critical and difficult stage as the Zionist enemy, embodied in the Israeli rightist and religious factions, is determined to flout the legitimacy resolutions on the Palestinian issue. It is trying to impose its own vision on the Palestinian people. Its apartheid vision is today embodied in the racist wall that tears the Palestinian land, rules out the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state and reduces the entire Palestinian people to prisoners living in cantons. The American religious right is supporting Israel and using all its clout and potential to realize the Zionist dream at the expense of the Palestinian people's rights.

It is the American Zionist right that isolated the democratically elected head of the state of Palestine in Ramallah and kept him under siege. It boycotted him thereby obstructing any settlement under the pretext that there was no Palestinian partner to negotiate with.

Yasser Arafat stood fast in defense of Palestinian Jerusalem and the refugees' right to return. He was a stubborn adversary to all the hostile forces so they tried to remove him and kill him.

We in the Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organization, which has always supported the Palestinian cause and President Yasser Arafat, the legitimate head of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian revolution, feel deep sorrow and grief for his departure and absence from the Palestinian and Arab arena.

We offer our condolences to the Palestinian Liberation Movement (Fatah), the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian people and the noble deceased's family.

We convey to the Palestinian people, with all their factions, our heartfelt condolences, and express our support to them at these decisive times which call for maximum unity, transparency, cohesion and upholding of the Palestinian people's legitimate rights.

Continuing the Palestinian militant march is the only way to keep alive the memory of the departed hero.

May God rest his soul and grant you all patience and solace.