RAMALLAH, 18 September 2003 — Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said yesterday he would be ready to die a “martyr” and would use his machine gun to defend himself if Israeli troops tried to exile or assassinate him.
“I am a Palestinian soldier...I will use my gun to defend not only myself but also defend every Palestinian child, woman and man and to defend the Palestinian existence,” Arafat said, as he pointed to a machine gun lying on the floor next to his chair in his battered West Bank office.
“Die a martyr? Yes, is there anyone in Palestine who does not dream of martyrdom,” he said.
Arafat shrugged off a US veto of a UN resolution demanding that Israel not harm or expel him. But other Palestinian officials feared that Israel could see the US move as a license to kill Arafat.
“We are not shaken by a resolution from one place or another,” Arafat said. “We are more important than any resolution.”
Arafat said the US veto encouraged Israeli policies against Palestinians. “This no doubt encourages Israel,” Arafat told the Arabic Al-Jazeera satellite television when asked about the US veto.
“If there was no green light and international silence, would there be this daily destruction of our people, villages, refugee camps, cities and Christian and Muslim sanctities?”
In vetoing the resolution, which demanded Israel “desist from any act of deportation and cease any threat” to Arafat’s safety, the US said the text failed to name Palestinian groups who have claimed responsibility for bomb attacks.
“Our policy on Arafat has not changed. We think he is part of the problem, not the solution but we do not support his expulsion or his elimination,” a US Embassy official said.
Meanwhile, averting a clash with the US over a West Bank barrier, Israel canceled a Cabinet meeting due to approve construction of a new section of fence deep in occupied land.
Officials said the meeting was canceled for “technical reasons”. The cancellation took place as the United States said it was examining the possibility of deducting expenditure on the barrier from a $9 billion US loan guarantee package.
Israel says the barrier is to keep bombers out of its cities, but Palestinians say it expropriates West Bank land, causing hardship to the local population.
While Arafat seemed unfazed by the US veto, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat voiced concern it could be seen by Israeli leaders as a license to kill Arafat.
“It’s a black day for the United Nations and for international law,” Erekat said. “I hope that Israel will not interpret the resolution as a license to kill President Arafat”. Some Palestinian officials said the veto of the Syrian-backed measure showed the US was turning its back on the road map to peace it sponsors, which has become derailed.
— Additional input from agencies
