Palestinians to commemorate anniversary of Arafat's death

Palestinians will hold a rally on Friday in commemoration of their late leader Yasser Arafat, who died on Nov. 11, 2004, in a French hospital.

One year hence his death which was still shrouded in mystery, the Palestinians still considered the 75-year-old man as a symbol of their struggle against Israel's occupation.

"On this day we remember Abu Amar (Yasser Arafat) as a strong leader, and also as a father who spent his life on our struggle," said Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei at a government meeting.

"Israel said all the time that there was no real partner to reach peace. On the contrary, it was Abu Amar that didn't find a partner to reach peace, and we must remember that Arafat signed all the agreements with Israel that we are still working on," Qurei said.

Other commemoration activities will include lectures by Palestinian leaders on Arafat's life.

Terming Arafat as an obstacle to peace, Israel accused Arafat of fomenting violence during the Palestinian uprising which erupted in September 2000.

Arafat's health began deteriorating after nearly three years of Israeli siege in his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, before he was airlifted to a military hospital in Paris suburbs for treatment in October 2004.

The most important progress since Arafat died was the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in mid-September of 2005, but the Palestinians believed that the Israeli occupation was still going on in the region.

"Israel's occupation is still in Gaza, and we consider that the Israeli government should take responsibility for Gaza," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Wednesday at a Palestinian Legislative Council session.

A Palestinian official close to Arafat said on condition of anonymity that Arafat also rejected the idea of Israel's withdrawing from Gaza only.

"In 2003, Arafat firstly received the idea of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and transferring his office to Gaza, but he rejected the idea," the official said, adding that Arafat insisted all the time that "we want full Israeli withdrawal from all the Palestinian land, not only from Gaza."

Because of Arafat's position, some Palestinian officials are convinced that Arafat was poisoned by Israel.

The Palestinian government has formed a special committee to investigate into the cause of Arafat's death, but the committee has recently admitted that they failed to find the exact reason behind his death.

Source: Xinhua