Arab Summit in Disarray as Palestinians Walk Out
[...]Farouq al-Kaddoumi, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization's political department, told Qatar's al-Jazeera television the Palestinian delegation had quit because Lebanese President Emile Lahoud had blocked the broadcast of Arafat's speech from his West Bank office. "This is an Arab summit, not a Lebanon summit," Kaddoumi added. "The summit is for all the Arabs and for the (Palestinian) Intifada and he (Lahoud) has no right not to listen to the Palestinian speech."

And it was a good one, too--in it, Mr. Arafat denounced suicide bombings as Satanic in origin and not in keeping with the peaceful tenants of Islam. He went on to state that attempts to eradicate Israel from the political map had been wrongminded, and that not only was it possible to live in peace, he would make non-violent social change his primary tool for gaining rights for the Palestinian people. He quoted freely from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter From a Birmingham Jail--"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. "

"Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must see the need of having nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men to rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood."

"Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice--or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?"

Arafat urged the Palestinian delegates to return to the conference. In addition, he called on all Arab nations to suspend any payments of money which might encourage more suicidal zealots to take action, and called on them to look to the example set by Egypt and Jordan and accept peace with Israel as not only plausible, but desirable.

Sorry, early April Fool's Day prank.

In a related story, Explosion in hotel during Passover, 15 reported killed and 100 wounded
"There was no immediate Palestinian comment."

Well, imagine that. Must be trying to figure out who to congratulate. Or come up with a story in which the attack was staged by Israelis to discredit the Palestinians.
posted by Terry at 11:22:00 AM