Akbar Hashemi's Memoirs - December 31, 1999 - The Leader's Harsh Attack on Arafat in the Quds Day Sermon, Describing Him as a "Fool and Traitor"

The Leader made a severe attack on [Yasser] Arafat, calling him a "fool and traitor" in his Quds Day sermon / [Boris] Yeltsin resigned from the presidency and introduced [Vladimir] Putin as his successor for the remaining three months until the elections.

I stayed home today. It was the International Quds Day march. One of the Friday sermons by the Leader was about the Palestinian issue, during which he launched a strong attack on Yasser Arafat, the [Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)] leader, calling him a fool and traitor. The public turnout was impressive. Effat participated and was dissatisfied with the conduct of the Friday prayer security forces. In many Friday prayers and Hezbollah rallies, images of [Abdullah] Nouri were displayed alongside those of Arafat and [Anwar] Sadat, the former president of Egypt.

In a surprising move, President [Boris] Yeltsin of Russia resigned from his position and appointed Prime Minister [Vladimir] Putin as his successor for the remaining three months until the upcoming elections. Political observers interpret this move as an attempt to bolster Putin's position.

Today, the hijacking incident ended with the transfer of several prisoners demanded by the hijackers [Kashmiris] to Kandahar and their handover, including [Maulana] Masood Azhar, a Kashmiri cleric [and leader of the terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed]. So far—by 9 PM—some Eastern countries have welcomed the year 2000 with celebrations, and no sign of the anticipated Y2K computer issues has appeared.