At UN, Abbas evokes memories of fiery Arafat

AFP, United Nations, 25 Sept 2011 – When Mahmud Abbas waved his request for Palestinian UN membership before a clamoring General Assembly, he made history — and conjured up memories of Yasser Arafat’s dramatic 1974 UN speech.
On a foggy Friday morning in New York, Abbas — long seen as the colorless apparatchik of the Palestinian cause, lacking the gift for a turn of phrase possessed by his predecessor — struck an unusually poignant note.
‘In 1974, our deceased leader Yasser Arafat came to this hall,’ the Palestinian president said, earning a round of enthusiastic applause.
Arafat, he recalled, had urged the United Nations to ‘realize the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people, stating: ‘Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.’’
‘In 1988, President Arafat again addressed the General Assembly… where he submitted the Palestinian peace program adopted by the Palestine National Council at its session held that year in Algeria,’ Abbas said, referring to the acceptance of talks with Israel and territory swaps in exchange for peace.
Abbas — who rarely reveals personal details — described that moment as a ‘painful and very difficult step for all of us, especially those, including myself, who were forced to leave their homes’ when Israel was created in 1948.
Palestinians refer to that time as the ‘Nakba,’ or ‘catastrophe,’ because it resulted in some 700,000 people fleeing or being driven out of what is now the Jewish state.
‘After 63 years of suffering of an ongoing Nakba: Enough. It is time for the Palestinian people to gain their freedom and independence,’ said Abbas, who fled his hometown of Safed in Galilee, which now is in Israel, at age 13.
In 1974, Arafat mustered all his rhetorical skills to give an emotional speech before the UN General Assembly, brandishing a holster in one hand and an olive branch in the other.
‘Today, I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom-fighter’s gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand,’ he implored the world body.
Abbas was less theatrical, but his appearance won huge applause and a standing ovation from some members of the assembly.
Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour, who was with Abbas when he submitted the formal request to admit Palestine as a member state to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, called the speech a ‘historic moment’ on a par with Arafat’s address.
‘I am proud — as a Palestinian, as all of our people must feel — to have lived to see this moment, which marks the culmination of a long struggle with many sacrifices,’ Mansour told AFP.
Abbas called the UN request a ‘moment of truth’ in his speech.
‘My people are waiting to hear the answer of the world. Will it allow Israel to continue its occupation, the only occupation in the world?’ he asked.