Arafat: I can be a Mandela
2004-10-05 12:39
Cairo - Veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said that like South
Africa's Nelson Mandela he aims to lead his people to independence
before finally handing over power, in a newspaper interview
published on Tuesday.
"I am ready to be a Nelson Mandela. I agree, but only after the
establishment of a Palestinian state which I will preside over to
start with and then leave to others," he told the London-based Arab
daily Asharq Al-Awsat.
Arafat said he would in any case bow to the decisions of the
Palestinian leadership at large over whether to run in elections
planned for next year.
"Whatever the Palestinian leadership decides, I accept. After
all, I will not impose myself, and Abu Ammar commits himself to
(respect) whatever decision is taken by the Palestinian
leadership," he said, using his own nom-de-guerre.
In 1994, Mandela became the first elected president of
post-apartheid South Africa. He stepped five years later in keeping
with a pledge to serve only a single term.