Palestinian Ambassador to India Osama Musa on Tuesday warned that Israel will go up in flames if Prime Minister Ariel Sharon carries out his threat to eliminate Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
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Speaking to rediff.com in New Delhi on Tuesday, Musa said the world leadership has lost the courage to condemn Israeli threats.
"If Israel carries out its threat to either remove Arafat from Ramallah or harm him physically, it will pay dearly for the crime it commits. The people of Palestine will avenge the killing of their leader for a hundred years to come," he said.
He rejected the Israeli claim that Arafat is an impediment to the West Asian peace process.
"They say he is a threat to the road map to peace in West Asia. Both Israel and its benefactor, the United States of America, must understand that if Arafat is harmed there will be no road, no map and no peace. There will be bloodshed in West Asia," Musa said.
"Sharon and his men have gone mad...they are thinking in evil terms like harming our great leader. They have sent tanks to our bedrooms and they expect us to talk peace. If Israel wants peace then it must end occupation [of Palestinian land]. We could prove good neighbours to them. But if they want to repress us, we will not let that happen.
"The Palestinians will give their lives to protect their leader. Thousands of Palestinians are surrounding Arafat's office to protect him. If there were no restrictions on the movement of people, millions of Palestinians would join them,"
he claimed.
When reminded of the anguish expressed by several world leaders on the Israeli plans to eliminate Arafat, Musa said: "I am yet to hear any condemnation of the Israeli move from the United States. In any case, Israelis do not care about the
world opinion. If they could kill their own prime minister Yitzak Rabin because he shook hands with Arafat and talked peace in Oslo, what could you expect from them. The world community must be mad to give Nobel peace prize to Arafat with Rabin because the Israelis call Arafat a terrorist," he added.
Musa said he has gifted one of his four sons to Arafat to act as his personal security guard. "I'll be too happy to sacrifice my son for the cause of the Palestinian people. For our freedom. For protection of our beloved leader Yasser Arafat," he said.
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