French PM: Respect Arafat's last hours

www.news24.com ^ | 10/11/2004 23:56 | SA

[Ginifer]

Paris - French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said on Wednesday he hoped people would show proper respect during the last hours of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, struggling for life in a French hospital.

Asked on television about confusion and conflicting reports this week about Arafat's condition, Raffarin said: "France has played its role, both diplomatic and humanitarian, but it will not get involved in the play of interests you refer to."

Chirac said when Arafat was airlifted in a grave condition to France on October 29 that his country's tradition as a land of refuge had motivated its decision to admit ailing the Palestinian leader for treatment in a French hospital.

"It was natural that France, land of refuge, would not question the right of the president of the Palestinian Authority to come for medical treatment in our country," he said.

"I hope people will show respect for the last hours of a man approaching death, and I hope, too, that the circumstances will be of help to peacemakers rather than to warmongers," Raffarin said:

'Ensure these events serve peace'

"Let the peacemakers employ these few hours to try to construct what the world expects," he said in a reference to Middle East peace efforts.

"Let us respect a dying man, and ensure that these events serve peace," the prime minister continued:

"France always plays a role for peace. We are involved with our European partners in seeking Middle East peace which seems to me to be a priority for balance in the world."

[Ginifer]

ROFLMAO - "France always plays a role for peace. We are involved with our European partners in seeking Middle East peace which seems to me to be a priority for balance in the world." This is the best joke I've heard in days.

[Pitiricus]

I am showing respect by drinking to the imminent arrival of arafart in Hell!

[Trippin]

Screw Arafat. I wish he would just die already. I was hoping that the fly infested French hospitals would have been the death of him by now.

[jocon307]

Chirac! STUF, si'il vous plait!

My neighbors are lucky I'm not out there baning the pots and pans. I might still do it if this loser terrorist would just GIVE UP THE GHOST!

[SaveTheChief]

I'll respect his last hours the same way he respected innocent life.

The world is a better place because this terrorist is dead.

[crazyhorse691]

My respect for Arafat is limited to asking him which breed of hog I should tether to his grave.

[elizabetty]

RESPECT??

[Helms]

The "Streets of Gaza Strip" sung to Bruce Springstein's "Streets of Philadelphia"

He was bruised and battered by the virus, and he couldn't tell

what he felt

He was unrecognizable to himself

Saw his reflection in a mirror and he didn't know

his own face

Oh my many gay bodyguards are you gonna leave me

wasting away

On the streets of Gaza Strip

I walked the Muqata'a Compound till my legs felt like stone

I heard the voices of those I terrorized vanished and in my head

At night I could hear their spilled blood in my veins

Just as black and whispering as the Palestinian rain

On the streets of the Gaza Strip

Is the Devil gonna greet me

It's just you and I my terrorist friend

And my clothes don't fit me no more

I walked a thousand miles in this confined compound

just to slip this skin

The night has fallen in France, I'm lyin' in a Coma

I can feel myself fading away

So receive me Satan with your faithless kiss

or will we leave each other alone like this

In the streets of the Gaza Strip

[CaptainAwesome2]

chriac and this raffarin deserve the same level of respect as arafat in their last moments of life. no respect!!

oh, and bomb the funeral service!

[weenie]

"France always plays a role for peace.

France, your turn is coming. Call your Dutch friends and ask what they think.

We Americans know that there are courageous Frenchmen and Frenchwomen in Gaul.

Rise up...we await your participation in this war.

Goodbye, Jack Shellack...

Your time is over..

[WoodstockCat]

France always plays a role for peace..because we are always ready to surrender!

[skikvt]

If we only knew when those final hours would be.... Hurry up and die already....

[hauerf]

Hey, Yasser, eat sh*t and die.

Respectful regards,

Fred

[Inyokern]

[383rr]

Good grief. Die already!

[indexpatient]

My respect for Arafat is limited to asking him which breed of hog I should tether to his grave.

Good Call, lets make it 72 virgin hogs and have a cookout too and we can raise our glasses to the eminent arrival of Yasir's smelly parkinsons ridden @ss in hell.


GOOD RIDANCE !!

[El Gato]

I'd like to pay my respects at Arafat's funeral
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With a few dozen JDAM's.

[theoldChief]

"people would show proper respect"

Yep, we should show the same "proper respect" to a life-long terrorist as his followers showed on 9/11

[xJones]

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said on Wednesday he hoped people would show proper respect during the last hours of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, struggling for life in a French hospital.

Say what?!! The French doctors won't tell what he's dying of, and he's setting the all-time record for being resurrected from the dead.

[marilew]

He deserves nothing....

When we stopped the Intifada we did not stop the Jihad [Islamic holy war] to establish Palestine with Jerusalem as our capital.... We know only one word: Jihad, Jihad, Jihad.... We are in a conflict with the Zionist movement, the Balfour Declaration, and all imperialist activity...."

--- Yasser Arafat, in a speech at the Dehaishe refugee camp near Bethlehem, 22 October 1996 (Yediot Aharonot, 23 October 1996). The Balfour Declaration was Britain's 1917 statement of support for a Jewish national home in the land of Israel.