The Palestinian Cause…. and the Yemeni Stance [Archives:2001/36/Focus]
Adil Ahmed as-Sellwi
In his first visit to the US and in an unprecedented step, President Ali Abdullah Saleh voiced the first Arab call from the White House asking for achieving a fair peace in the Middle-East and to help the Palestinians restore their usurped rights. This call was the first of its kind by an Arab leader in such an occasion.
The Yemeni stance towards the Palestinian cause has been clear from the start of the Arab-Israeli conflict. As Yemen’s support to the legitimate rights of the Palestinians in their resistance of the Zionist occupation is just a reflection of the Yemeni leadership’s understanding of the importance of this issue. Hence, the Yemeni leadership has been convinced that the liberation of the whole occupied territories is unalienable right which can not be abandoned. Furthermore, it has not spared any effort in alleviating the suffering of the Palestinians. As probably Yemen was the first Arab state to welcome the influx of Palestinian refugees driven away from their homes in the wake of the Israeli wars of extermination.
Accordingly, Yemen has made of the Palestinian cause an integral part of its political and diplomatic policy as it has shouldered the burden of introducing this issue in the different international forums. Likewise, Yemen has been trying to unveil the Israeli atrocities and inhuman practices perpetrated against the Palestinian people in the occupied land through all the available channels.
Yemen represented by President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been so successful in mobilizing support to the Palestinians and in making the Palestinian cause the principal issue of the Arab world. Moreover, Yemen has been the first to call for convening the different Arab summits concerning the Palestinian question. Concerning the normalization with Israel Yemen has been so firm in opposing all forms of rapprochement with the Israeli usurpers. In addition, Yemen has been always calling for putting concrete steps to end the continued de-arabization of (al-Quds) Jerusalem through mobilizing the different efforts aiming at highlighting this issue.
Similarly, Yemen has been one of the leading Arab states to call for the establishment of a special fund for supporting Intefada. Ultimately this is precisely what the Yemeni leadership has been doing for supporting the Palestinian cause which is something one should be proud of.
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