Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat paid a moving homage to his "sister" Leah Rabin via a cassette broadcast Wednesday by Israeli public television a few hours after the burial of the widow of the slain Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin.
It is believed to be the first time the Palestinian leader has delivered a statement on Israeli television.
Reading his speech against a backdrop photo of the al-Aqsa mosque in the old town of Jerusalem, Islam's third holiest site, Arafat said he wanted to continue the peace process that he started when he signed the first autonomy agreement with Yitzhak Rabin and former prime minister, Shimon Peres.
"Leah, my sister, I wish you peace. In the difficult moments, you always stood alongside my partner Rabin," said Arafat.
"You have risen to heaven at a time when the earth shakes with the use of force and violence and threaten to break up the peace of the brave -- that peace that we agreed with our partners Rabin and Peres," the Palestinian leader said referring to the violence which has left 231 dead, nearly all Palestinians, since the start of the wave of violence on September 28.
"You were behind this peace as well ... With the greatest respect, I place a flower of Palestine on your tomb and renew my commitment to the peace of the brave," Arafat also said.
"There is no other option but peace. My people and I, despite all the suffering we are enduring on a daily basis, the violence, the loss of human life, the shelling, we have not lost hope. At this moment where we leave each other one final time, we are faithful to the peace process," he said.
"In these such sad moments, I say that there is still a small glimmer of hope at the end of the dark tunnel. Goodbye, my sister," Arafat ended by saying.
Arafat was not invited to attend the funeral of Leah Rabin, who was buried Wednesday in the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem, alongside her husband Yitzhak, slain five years ago by a rightwing extremist.
Among foreign dignatories attending were US First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, and German President Johannes Rau.
All cited in particular the combative spirit, strong personality and tenacity of Leah Rabin, who died Sunday from lung cancer, and who had become the most fervent supporter of peace following the death of her husband -- JERUSALEM (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
