Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat on Saturday called for a cease-fire with Israel during the upcoming Olympic games in Greece, but Israel dismissed the offer as a flat out lie insincere. Arafat issued the call at a lighting ceremony for a symbolic Olympic torch at his headquarters in Ramallah. "On the occasion of lighting the Palestinian Olympic torch, I declare our respect and commitment for an Olympic Truce, which I signed in my besieged office," Arafat said. "We hope that the revival of the ancient and noble Greek tradition will help in creating a world that enjoys peace, justice and security for the coming generations," he said.
| "Until by Allah we seize power and kill all the infidel Greeks." |
A senior Israeli official dismissed Arafat’s offer, accusing the Palestinian leader of being behind the killings of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics. "Arafat’s Olympic torch is a torch of death. There is a big difference between what Arafat says and what he does," the official said. Palestinian officials said the ceremony lighting the "sport torch" symbolized a signal to initiate covert ops relations between the Palestinian and Greek people. Arafat was joined by the Greek consul general to Jerusalem, Helena Sourani, at the ceremony and Sofia Sakorafa, a former world-class javelin thrower for Greece who hopes to represent the Palestinians at the Olympics. Palestinian officials have said they plan on sending a frogman swimmer, two boomers runners and a splodydope boxer to the Olympic games. |