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Arafat and his
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Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, 75,
the leader who passionately sought a homeland for his people but was seen
by many Israelis as a ruthless terrorist and a roadblock to peace, died
early Thursday in Paris.
"The last two days were very painful, very difficult days," said chief
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, who confirmed Arafat's death Thursday
morning. "And now, after these painful days of President Arafat, he is
dead."
Arafat had been sick with an unknown illness that had been variously
described as the flu, a stomach virus or gallstones. He flew to Paris
October 29 seeking medical treatment and was hospitalized with what
Palestinian officials said was a blood disorder.
Arafat's body will be taken from France to Cairo, where the Egyptian
government will host a state funeral for him, Erakat said. He will be
buried outside the Palestinian Authority headquarters compound in the West
Bank city of Ramallah.
Arafat's family had wanted him buried in Jerusalem, but the Israeli
government forbade that.
"Jerusalem is the city where Jewish kings are buried, and not Arab
terrorists," Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said last week.
Erakat vowed that the grave in Ramallah would be temporary.
"One day, we will have our own independent state with east Jerusalem as
its capital," he said.
Erakat called it "heartbreaking" that Arafat died before achieving his
goal of an independent Palestinian state, "and the Israeli occupation of
our land has not finished yet." But he said Arafat managed to preserve
Palestinian national identity during decades without statehood.
For five decades, Arafat -- adorned with his trademark checkered kaffiyeh -- was the most
prominent face of Palestinian opposition to Israel and the push for a
Palestinian state, first as the head of the Palestine Liberation
Organization, which carried out attacks against Israeli targets, and later
as the leader of the quasi-governmental Palestinian
Authority after parts of the West Bank and Gaza were returned to
Palestinian control.
Arafat was first elected head of the PLO in 1969, and by 1974, Arab
leaders recognized the group as "the sole legitimate representative" of
the Palestinian people.
In 1994, Arafat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Israeli
leaders Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, for their work on the Oslo
accords, seen at the time as a breakthrough toward an independent
Palestinian state and a permanent peace with Israel. Yet a decade later,
Arafat died without seeing his dream of a Palestinian homeland come true.
(Agencies) |
75歲的巴勒斯坦民族權力機構主席阿拉法特于本周四（11月11日）凌晨逝世。他用滿腔熱血為巴勒斯坦人民尋找一個家園，但很多以色列人卻把他視為冷酷無情的恐怖分子和通往和平的路障。
巴勒斯坦談判代表賽義卜·埃雷卡特在周二早上證實了阿拉法特死亡的消息，他說：“（阿拉法特）最后的兩天非常痛苦、非常艱難。現在，阿拉法特在經歷了這一段痛苦的日子后，與世長辭了。”
阿拉法特一直身患某種不知名的疾病，關于他的癥狀有多種描述：流感、胃病毒感染和膽結石等。10月29日，阿翁飛往巴黎求醫，接受巴勒斯坦官員所說的血液病治療。
埃雷卡特說，阿拉法特的遺體將從巴黎運往開羅，埃及政府將在那里為他舉行國葬。他將被葬在拉馬拉“西岸”的巴勒斯坦民族權力機構總部大樓外面。
阿拉法特的家人希望他能被葬在耶路撒冷，但以色列政府不同意那樣做。
以色列司法部部長約瑟夫·拉皮德上周表示：“耶路撒冷是（歷代）猶太國王安息的城市，而不是為阿拉伯恐怖分子準備的。”
埃雷卡特莊嚴承諾，位于拉馬拉的墓穴只是臨時性的。
他說：“總有一天，我們將會擁有我們自己獨立的國家，而它的首都就是東方的耶路撒冷。”
埃雷卡特說，阿拉法特在實現巴勒斯坦獨立的目標之前就去世了，這是“令人心碎的”，“以色列仍然占領著我們的土地”。但他說，幾十年來，盡管沒有獲得一個國家應有的地位，阿拉法特還是設法維護了巴勒斯坦民族的身份。
50年來，戴著標志性的方格子頭巾的阿拉法特是巴以沖突和巴勒斯坦建國運動中的最引人注目的面孔。阿拉法特最早是襲擊以色列目標的巴勒斯坦解放組織的領袖，后來西岸和加沙的部分地區重歸巴勒斯坦控制后，阿拉法特成為半官方的巴勒斯坦民族權利機構領導人。
1969年，阿拉法特被選舉為巴勒斯坦解放組織的領袖。到了1974年，阿拉伯領導人重組了這一組織，使之成為巴勒斯坦人民“唯一的合法代表”。
1994年，阿拉法特和以色列領導人伊扎克·拉賓和希蒙·佩雷斯共同獲得了諾貝爾獎，他們為簽署“奧斯陸協議”所做的努力在當時被視作通往一個獨立的巴勒斯坦國、實現巴以永久和平的“重大突破”。然而10年后，阿拉法特沒來得及看到自己的建國夢想成為現實，就永遠離開了人世。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2004-11-12 10:34