Greater anger

"WE WILL not abandon Palestine" and "America and Israel are the originators of terrorism" were two of the slogans being chanted by angry protestors at a demonstration that took place after last Friday's prayers at Al- Azhar Mosque. The demonstration was being held in reaction to the news that the Israeli government planned to send Palestinian President Yasser Arafat into exile, reports Rania Khallaf.

The demonstration was followed by a public rally attended by prominent figures from across the political spectrum. Representatives of opposition parties were anxious to show just how strongly they rejected the idea of expelling Arafat. Speaker after speaker urged Arab and Islamic governments to increase their support for the Palestinian people's struggle to regain their sovereignty over both the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the occupied territories.

According to political observers who spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly, Israel's "foolish" talk of expelling Arafat had made strong anti-Israeli sentiment in the region even more intense, and inspired many to talk more seriously about taking some sort of action against such obvious Israeli provocations.

Historian Abdel-Wahab El-Messeri, author of a seminal encyclopaedia on Judaism and Zionism, saw the call to exile Arafat as "tantamount to a declaration of war on the Palestinians". El-Messeri said the Israeli government had reached a point of extreme despair. "Sharon foolishly believes that if Arafat is expelled, Israelis will live happily ever after. But, this is not true," El-Messeri said.

Mourid El-Bargouthi, a prominent Cairo- based Palestinian poet, described the call as a sign of Israel's "political failure and Sharon's bankrupt policies". He also said "it was based on gangster tactics". In 1982, he recalled, Israel forced the Palestinian leader's exile from Lebanon to Tunisia, and yet this did not stop the Palestinians from continuing their struggle. Expelling Arafat, he said, "won't solve the problem, but would instead increase the resistance and further weaken prospects for progress towards peace in the Middle East".

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 18 - 24 September 2003 (Issue No. 656)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/656/eg3.htm