Palestinians Quit Summit as Arafat Speech Blocked

Reuters | March 27, 2002

[TopQuark]

Palestinians Quit Summit as Arafat Speech Blocked
Wed Mar 27, 8:31 AM ET

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Palestinian delegation to an Arab summit walked out Wednesday in protest at what a Palestinian official called the blocking of a speech by Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) that was to have been beamed to Arab leaders by satellite.

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(AP)

"We spent hours negotiating with the Lebanese to allow Arafat's speech to be aired," the official said. "Every Arab leader intervened on our behalf, but they (the Lebanese) gave silly excuses."

One Lebanese source close to the government blamed "our neighbors" -- a reference to Lebanon's political mentor Syria -- for obstructing the broadcast of Arafat's summit address

[TopQuark]

blamed "our neighbors" -- a reference to Lebanon's political mentor Syria

I like the choice of words here: Syria as "mentor." Never mind tens of thousands of troops that invaded the country and stayed there long after the Iraeli withdrawal. This "mentor" is salivating to annex Lebanon entirely.

Further, isn't everything negative supposed to be happening because of Israel and, more specifically, Mosad?

Are we dealing here with some remnants of the Lebanon's destruction by the Arafat's thugs who had been kicked out of Jordan after an uprising suppressed in blood?

The true attitudes toward Palestinians in the Arab world are come to us usually in drops of news due the translations by MEMRI.org. In this rare case they show it all. And, what is more suprising, Reurers has reported this, however briefly. The true attitudes towards Palestinians

[KC_Conspirator]

Tom Friedman can be an idiot, but he made one observation about this (ahem) arab "summit". He said that any region in the world, any continent, and any sub-continent an have at least a couple of democracies. There is not a single one among the muslims.

[browardchad]

This is puzzling -- where was the speech blocked? Worldwide? By whom? Fox started to air it live, early this AM (ET), but cut it off after a few minutes with no comment. It was -- no surprise -- grossly inflammatory -- in a just the few minutes I saw, he was exalting the intifata.

[Ancesthntr]

Fox reported that the speech was blocked at the Arab summit itself, not anywhere else (though presumably in Syria).

This incident shows that even the "brothers" of the Pallies don't want to hear from them. The Pallies are the outcasts of the Arab world. Were there no Israel, Palestine would likely be occupied by Syria and/or Egypt, with the occupation being far more brutal than the relatively benign (when there is no terrorism) Israeli presence.

[kinghorse]

Give Debka their props. They accurately foretold Abdullah and Mubarek's refusal to go. Both are afraid of a muslime styled gangland hit. Nice.

[mmmmmmmm....... donuts]

Debka also forecast that it was Sharon's idea to let Arafat go to Beirut. So, 1 for 2!

[goldstategop]

Well it shows the Arabs are more anti-Palestinian than the Israelis lol. Makes you wonder if Arafat would have been let into Beirut even if Prime Minister Sharon had given him the wherewithal to go.

[wattsmag2]

Turkey doesn't qualify? Perhaps you mean amoung the arabs?

[Thinkin' Gal]

It was -- no surprise -- grossly inflammatory -- in a just the few minutes I saw, he was exalting the intifata.

Gee, no surprise why he didn't accept Israel's "demands" for attending the summit. Maybe since the satellite TV got zapped, he'll have to use his **cellphone**. Now why didn't Arafat's brethren show their solidarity by holding the summit in Ramallah? It would have been the perfect chance for Israeli helicopter gunships to start blowing up occupied buildings.

[Catspaw]

From what I was able to gather from Fox, al Jazeera showed Arafat's speech to their worldwide audience, but it was blocked inside Lebanon (or just Beruit, or just where ever the meeting place of the Arab League is). The Pals stomped out, everyone's fighting with one another, Mubarak is a no-show, as well as the King of Jordan, and the Arab League "summit" is starting out to be quite the disaster.

Allow me a minute while I snicker.

[Nix 2]

Let me help you.
snicker

[dennisw]

The Arab delegates were likely partying in Beirut with the good booze and the expensive whores. When it came summit time they were too out of it to get their act together. Hence the chaos and contention as the Arab "summit" turned into a rump caucus.

[Catspaw]

Description: Offers translations from Arab media, mostly intended to put the Arab world in the worst possible light.

Memri doesn't have to work very hard to do that. The Arab world does that all by itself.

[Catspaw]

They hold elections.

Yeah, and elect members of Hezbollah, on the US government's list of terrorist organizations.

Funny that you didn't mention that, doc lady.

[mmmmmmmm....... donuts]

Wow. I just did, I can't believe they have that highly editorializied description. And while MEMRI does run a lot of the Jew-bashing that Arab papers have, they also run commentaries on some of the contrary expressions of that.

[dennisw]

The Pallies are the outcasts of the Arab world.

You got that right. Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi have cast them out at various times for their treachery. Attempts to overthrow governments (Jordan) and allying themselves with Iraqi invaders (Kuwait)

[katykelly]

Go ahead and snicker, but this "summit" is really big stuff. I know this because the media has been harping about it for weeks.

tee hee

[veronica]

Allow me a minute while I snicker...

I second that snicker and add a chortle.