Israel's tanks fiercely bombed Arafat's residence in Ramallah from March 29 to 31, the tanks then drove till the residence and forced Arafat to withdraw to the basement, the latest situation aroused the whole world's astonishment and attention. Even in the remote Beijing, journalists can feel the strong smell of the gunpowder. On April 1, the Palestinian Embassy in China and the Israel Embassy in China also deducted such a confrontation.
Large Scale Assembly at the Palestinian Embassy
Palestinian people have lost freedom due to Israel's capture and control, they even can not expressed their anger on their homeland safely, but at the Palestinian Embassy in China, the situation is totally different.
On April 1 afternoon, the Palestinian Embassy in China held a large-scale assembly opposing Israel's military aggression and for support of Palestine. Hundreds of diplomatic officials from Arab countries, non-Islamic Asian and African countries and some European countries attended the assembly.
Palestinian people love peace, but there is no peace in the Middle East. Israel's invasion is still going on, Palestinian people are bleeding. Moustapha Saphariny, Palestinian ambassador to China gave a speech, he made a vow on behalf of Palestinian people that Palestinian people will never surrender, they will struggle together with Arafat for the establishment of Palestine state till the end of their lives. Some Palestinian women shed tears, other assemblers shouted: "Israel can kill us, but they can not destroy our will. We will exchange our life with Palestinian freedom. Arafat will be our leader forever".
The ambassador said that since Israel was founded in 1948, Palestine has been enduring grave pain and humiliation incessantly. The founding of Palestine is lawful, but Israel's aggression and capture are illegal, that is the source of the Palestine-Israel conflict, and also the source of Palestinian people's misery.
Israeli Minister Condemns Terrorism
On the same day, Ilan Mor, charge d'affaires ad interim and minister of Israel Embassy in China met some Chinese journalists, he expounded Israel's stance on the current Middle East situation and the Palestine-Israel conflict.
From some documents in the Israel Embassy, we can see that Israel has equaled Arafat to terrorism. The minister explained about Israel's siege to Arafat's headquarters as: in the past five years, Israel experienced five suicide-bombing assaults, many Israeli families are victims. Since after the US special envoy for the Middle East arrived in Palestine, Israel has been trying to stop the fire. We also tried to cooperate with American vice president to realize cease-fire, but what we got is terrorism attack. We think that the Middle East will not set a negative example for the world. If suicide bombing can get success, other places in the world can have such accidents. That is why Israeli government took such action.
Ilan Mor's explanation further proved Sharon's speech which took Arafat as an "enemy" on March 29. Sharon takes Palestinian authorities led by Arafat as a "terrorism government". Since the American 911 incident, terrorism has been the world's common enemy.
Even though Arafat is always been related with terrorism, but Ilan Mor said that we hope Arafat can come back to reality. What's more, Israel would take Arafat as negotiators. He said that history can prove that yesterday's enemy can be today's political partner, even friend. He take September of 2002 as the dividing line for Arafat to be changed into "enemy" from "political partner".
(People's Daily April 4, 2002)
