Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has called for a truce between Israel and the Palestinians.
In an interview with Israeli television, he said all the world wants peace for the good of the Middle East and future generations of both peoples. Earlier President Arafat said he was willing to die as a martyr and will use his machine-gun to defend himself if Israeli troops try to exile or assassinate him.
| "You'll never take me alive, coppers!... Ummm... You want to, don't you?" |
Israel touched off an international outcry last week by announcing it had decided to remove Mr Arafat, following two suicide bombings that killed 15 Israelis. Israel blames Mr Arafat for fomenting attacks in the three-year-old uprising for statehood. He denies the allegation and instead blames Israel for the violence.
Meanwhile, Mr Arafat says the United States veto of a United Nations resolution demanding Israel not harm or expel him will only encourage Israeli policies against all Palestinians. While some Palestinian officials now fear Israel will see the US veto as a licence to kill Mr Arafat, the Palestinian leader says he is not concerned. "The new veto will not shake our Arab nation, and will not shake the Palestinian people," he said. "We have challenged other vetos, and we have challenged these vetos since the Zionist conference. This land is not without people, and we will continue challenging them, and the mountain will not be shaken." |