Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - 31 April 2002

• George W. Bush's support for Israel arouses a lot of hatred against him and is embarrassing for Arab leaders, despite the weak resolutions of their summit
  Mr. [Ali Asghar] Morvarid suggested that Iran's presence in defense of the Palestinian people should be highlighted.I said, "Right now, the 2nd of Khordad people are protesting to the Supreme Leader as to why the national interests are not being taken into account as opposed to the interests of the Palestinians."

  
  Full text of the diary:

I was at the headquarters all day. I swam in the sea and walked on the beach and read the bulletins that I had brought with me. In the afternoon, I listened to Abu Dhabi TV for two hours. He had an extraordinary plan for the attack of the Israeli forces on Ramallah. Interestingly, journalists in Ramallah regularly make television connections and report on the events along with pictures. The axis is to trap [Yasser] Arafat in a part of the PA presidency complex.  The Israelis try to enter his special office, but his bodyguards prevent him. A group of people in Western countries are also voluntarily present there and prevent the Israeli military forces with a human wall.  

It seems that it is a good plan to raise Arafat and portray him as a hero, and sometimes others call him and quote him, such as that "[Ariel] Sharon, [Israeli Prime Minister], intends to kill him and wants to exile or detain him, but his choice is martyrdom."  

It is good for provoking people's emotions and roaring waves show demonstrations full of people's emotions all over the world. Surely other Arab TV channels have similar programs, and if they are used well, these pressures will not be tolerated by the United States and Israel, especially with the quotation of a speech yesterday by [US President] George W. Bush, who supports Israel, which arouses a lot of hatred against him and is embarrassing for the Arab leaders, with the weak resolutions of their summit in Beirut.

In the meantime, a very interesting incident occurred: suddenly a thick plume of smoke appeared in the visual space that was broadcast live. The TV presenter asked the reporter on the other side of the line, "What is this thick smoke?" He replied, "I don't know, maybe Israel bombed a place in the center of Ramallah." Then a few other possibilities were raised. Finally, another reporter said that the smoke seemed to be emanating from the city of Haifa inside Israel. It soon became apparent that an important store in Haifa had been blown up by a Palestinian suicide attack. Pictures of the presence of the police, the fire brigade and the carrying of the bodies and the wounded were shown, and it was announced that 15 people were killed and 35 people were injured, which is healing in this atmosphere of Israeli aggression, but they control the emotions, because in an instant, he avenged the blood of all the martyrs of Palestine, today and yesterday, which are 11 people.

In the evening, Dr. [Hossein] Ghasemi, the CEO of Kish Free Zone Organization, and his family members came. He explained his plans and complained to the government and the president that they did not pay attention to Kish.  

In the evening, Mr. [Ali Asghar] Morvarid and his family members came. They had dinner with us. He suggested that Iran's presence in defense of the Palestinian people be highlighted, and I said that right now, the 2nd of Khordad people are protesting to the Supreme Leader as to why national interests are not taken into account as opposed to the interests of the Palestinians.