A Personal Diary: "Arafat visits Ramallah"

Redeployment Diary
30 December 1995
Arafat visits Ramallah

Crowd to see Arafat

Left: With tens of thousands of people turning out from Ramallah, Al-Bireh and surrounding villages to see Arafat speak in Ramallah, the atmosphere was electric. A billboard errected by the Municipality of Ramallah welcomed "the symbol Arafat" to the town. We had already had two false alarms as to when Arafat would arrive, and it was a relief to see him finally make it. When his helicopter appeared in the sky and the crowd went wild, reminiscient of that scene at the R&R base in Apocalyspse Now.

Arafat's speech to Ramallah

Above: With a large cortège of security men, and flanked by Yasser Abed Rabbo, then PNA Minister of Culture, Arafat spoke for about 20 minutes, interrupted by chanting supporters every time he articulated one of the Palestinian dreams. "Palestine," he shouted, "is for all her sons. Today, we are making the history of the independent Palestinian state with holy Jerusalm as its capital."

Crowd control

Right: One of the several women who arrived by ambulance at Ramallah hospital after being crushed in the crowd to see Arafat. With thousands of people in an enclosed area, the Palestinian police had a prime opportunity to demonstrate their lack of ability in the area of crowd control. The police attempted to segregate men and women, causing a problem when the area set aside for women proved too small. Small children were crushed, women fainted, and one PNA official tried to throw me off a shed roof when I went to retrieve my camera from another photographer. Photographers had naturally gravitated to the roof, the only place free from the jostling elbows of the crowd. The police spent two hours trying to keep journalists off the roof and then gave up and let anyone on. Some local journalists consequently failed to get pictures of Arafat and the ambulance service had a busy day.

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