Abbas: We continue Arafat's path resting on a glorious heritage of struggle
Mahmoud Abbas, PA Chairman, speaking at official PA ceremony commemorating 5th anniversary of Arafat's death:
"Yasser Arafat was the leader of this battle, and the leader of the path, and the commander, and the father of the contemporary Palestinian national movement. We recall his role and emphasize his position in the movement, while we continue his long path of struggle, and complete the difficult path, drenched with sweat and blood and tears. Our path today rests upon a glorious heritage of struggle, which we formed with courageous hands and with national sense and thought, to which was added action. We combined the armed struggle with political action.
Our rifle was not the rifle of highway robbers. It was a rifle that was politically committed, striving for a noble objective. We have influenced and have been influenced by the world, with ideas about ways of liberation and political changes, and we have built excellent relations with the forces of liberation and self-liberation in the world…"
Note: Abbas’s speech was also published in the other PA daily, Al-Ayyam, Nov. 12, 2009.
"Yasser Arafat was the leader of this battle, and the leader of the path, and the commander, and the father of the contemporary Palestinian national movement. We recall his role and emphasize his position in the movement, while we continue his long path of struggle, and complete the difficult path, drenched with sweat and blood and tears. Our path today rests upon a glorious heritage of struggle, which we formed with courageous hands and with national sense and thought, to which was added action. We combined the armed struggle with political action.
Our rifle was not the rifle of highway robbers. It was a rifle that was politically committed, striving for a noble objective. We have influenced and have been influenced by the world, with ideas about ways of liberation and political changes, and we have built excellent relations with the forces of liberation and self-liberation in the world…"
Note: Abbas’s speech was also published in the other PA daily, Al-Ayyam, Nov. 12, 2009.