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Monday, November 08, 2004

Europeans build a Shrine to a Mass Murderer


This is what you can find outside the French hospital where Arafat is rotting.

From SFGate.com:

Well-wishers have created a makeshift shrine of flowers, candles and messages of support outside the hospital where Yasser Arafat is being treated.

People of all ages have come to this well-heeled Paris suburb bearing bouquets and signs of encouragement, in French and Arabic. Flowers line the wall for about 40 yards, melted wax dots the sidewalk and burning candles perfume the air.

Arafat was airlifted to the Percy Military Training Hospital on Oct. 29 from his West Bank compound. He's suffering from an ailment that doctors either haven't pinpointed or publicly disclosed.

Photos of Arafat also hang from the wall, as do huge Palestinian flags and photos of the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza.

One long, white poster says: "The wind will never make the mountain tremble. We promise you that we will continue the struggle until victory." It's signed "the Moroccans of Clamart."

A solitary Algerian, who said he had been keeping watch over the shrine for five nights in a row, said he was keeping vigil at what "has become a mosque" for Arafat.

The man, who refused to give his name, said he had spent part of the night cleaning up the site, arranging the flowers and keeping the candles lit.

In one message pinned to the wall, Ines Sebti, who wrote that she was 7, drew a picture of the Palestinian flag with two red hearts and the words "vive Arafat."