Arafat Calls On Iran to Come to Palestinians' Aid
"We look to all the people of the Islamic world, foremost among them the Muslim Iranian people and their faithful leadership, to support, aid and assist (Palestine)," the Palestinian news agency quoted Arafat as saying in a telegram to congratulate Mohammad Khatami on his reelection as president.
He also asked them to "work fast to end this bloody and savage war which the Israeli government has been waging for eight solid months."
Arafat told Khatami the Palestinian people would continue to stick close to Bait-ul-Moqaddas, its surroundings and the rest of blessed Palestine with patience and steadfastness and fight for it until all their rights are restored.
Iran has been the forerunner of support for the oppressed people of Palestine and to this very reason it has been the target of Israeli and U.S. plots, including the U.S. sanctions.
The Islamic Republic of Iran held an international conference on the Palestinian intifada on April 24-25. The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei delivered speech at the inaugural session of the conference.
Some guests participating in the conference, including Chairman of the Egyptian Press Association in the UK Abdullah Homouda, told the TEHRAN TIMES that the Tehran conference indicates that Iran is committed to supporting the cause of Palestine.
Another participant, the Chairman of Pakistan Cultural Forum Zafar Bakhtawan, also said to the daily that Iran is the leader of the Muslim ummah and represents the true expression of the Muslim ummah.
According to a Reuters report from Tulkarm refugee camp in West Bank, a suspected booby-trapped car exploded in the West Bank on Monday critically wounding an activist in the Islamic Jihad.
Islamic Jihad blamed Israel for the explosion, saying it was an attempt by the Jewish state "to assassinate" one of its members, Imad Abu Thyab, 25.
Witnesses said Thyab had tried to open the door of his car when it exploded. Another passerby was moderately wounded in the blast. Israel has killed more than 30 Palestinian activists since the start in September of a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Minister Nabil Shaath said in Luxembourg Monday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) will not arrest Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists. The PA would not "serve as policeman for Israel," he added.
"There has to be a basic respect for human rights," AFP quoted Shaath, Palestinian international cooperation minister, as saying to a press conference after meeting with EU foreign ministers.
"You cannot just go about arresting anybody your occupier asks you to," he said. "It becomes really hegemony and not a process for achieving peace and security."
"Let's be perfectly clear," said Shaath. "We have said to the Americans and to the rest of the world that we don't want to serve as police for Israel ... which is insisting on these arrests to embarrass us, to pressure us and force us to enter into conflict with our own people."
Another report from Cairo said the Egyptian, Jordanian and Sudanese foreign ministers headed to Tripoli on Monday to discuss continued fighting between Israelis and Palestinians with Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi.
Palestinian officials and the Syrian and Tunisian foreign ministers will also take part, Egyptian diplomatic sources said.