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Yasser: US war on Iraq will hurt Arabs
Middle East Online A US war against Iraq would hurt the Arabs as much as the creation of Israel in 1948 did, Palestinian leader-for-life Yasser Arafat (1929-2003?) said in an interview published in Egypt today. In his remarks to the Egyptian government newspaper Al-Ahram, Arafat also said an upcoming meeting of Palestinian factions in Egypt was aimed at forging unity rather than ending the uprising against Israeli occupation. We guessed that... A war in Iraq "will not just have repercussions for Iraq, but the entire region will be affected as it was affected by the events in Palestine in 1948," Arafat warned. Known as the Nakba (catastrophe), the proclamation of the state of Israel in 1948 and the defeat of hostile Arab armies by the new Jewish state led to a massive exodus of Palestinian refugees to neighbouring Arab states. "It should not be ruled out that one might see a new Sykes-Picot," Arafat warned. Signed in 1916, the secret French-British Sykes-Picot carved up the non-Turkish provinces of the Ottoman Empire ahead of its collapse two years later. Hmmm... Curious, he should bring that up, so soon after Galloway did. Must be on the official Learned Elders of Islam talking points. We'll probably hear about it again. The Arabs blame the Sykes-Picot accord for all the conflicts which have ravaged the region since then. And not their own brutality and ineptitude... Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-01-03 |
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