Arafat comments after Israeli withdrawal, celebrations

(2 May 2002)

1. Wide shot, Yasser Arafat, Palestinian Leader
2. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Yasser Arafat, Palestinian Leader:
"It's an ugly crime. Where are the Arabs? The Church of the Nativity? The holiest place for Christians and Muslims. To bomb it? And two fires in the Latin and the Old Church? I demand the international community to move immediately on this crime on which one cannot stand silent. I don't want to talk about the explosions and the fires that happened here in my compound because it doesn't matter what happened to me. What I care most about is the Church of the Nativity."
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Yasser Arafat, Palestinian Leader:
"In the Nativity Church, can you imagine what's happening, firing at it, with all the kinds of fire, and rockets, and firing. The Latin church and the Orthodox church, complete firing......I am asking you to ask the whole international world. This is a holy sacred place, not only for the Christians, but for the Christians and for the Muslims. How are they keeping silent? About this death, this big criminal. Again its a holy sacred place, the Nativity Church."
4. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Yasser Arafat, Palestinian Leader:
"It is not important what is going to happen and the agreement is no longer important. This is the result of the agreement, what just happened. Is what happened acceptable? Is it acceptable to Palestinians? Is it acceptable to Arabs? Is it acceptable to Muslims? Is it acceptable to Christians? Is it acceptable to the Americans? Is it acceptable to the Europeans? Is it acceptable to the Russians? Is it acceptable tot he United Nations? They (the Israelis) are the terrorists, the nazis and the racists. How could one keep silent on them, this ugly crime?
(Q: "Will you ask the United Nations to take immediate action?")
"You know very well that here is an Arab consensus and a decision that has been proposed to the Security Council."
(Q: "Politically,. where do you see things going?")
"Aren't you following whats happening here? Can't you hear? I doesn't matter what happens to me. I don't care even if this room was bombed. What I care about is what happening in the Church of the Nativity"
(Q: "Do you expect a solution soon to the Church of the Nativity?")
"Do I expect a solution to the Church of the Nativity? How could you ask this stupid question? This is a crime, to be silent on it is a crime. And you as journalists, if you keep silent on it you will be accomplices to the crime. Go all of you, tell the world about this crime. Don't waste time talking to me."
5. Various, Palestinians celebrating outside Arafat's headquarters
6. Various, Israeli tanks driving away

STORYLINE:

Israeli tanks and troop trucks rumbled out of Yasser Arafat's battered compound early on Thursday, ending his five months of confinement in a diplomatic breakthrough that also saw six wanted Palestinians whisked away to a West Bank jail in a US and British armored convoy.

At his Ramallah compound, Arafat pounded his fist on a table and called the Israelis "terrorists" as he received word of fire at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. He made the outburst as Palestinian supporters and journalists rushed into his offices after the Israelis pulled out of his compound.

A haggard-looking Arafat spoke briefly before his aides asked everyone to leave.

A US-brokered deal produced a dramatic resolution to the confrontation at Arafat's compound, one of several ongoing crises in the Mideast conflict.





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