Arriving in Vietnam after a long flight from France on October 7th, the Palestinian Ambassador to Vietnam, Saadi Salama, immediately came to Vo Nguyen Giap’s house to offer incense to General Giap, whom he and the Palestinian people have always loved and admired.

The Ambassador presented some Arabic copies of the Vietnamese book, “Dien Bien Phu–five miracles not seen in the history of war”, to General Vo Nguyen Giap’s relatives.

The Palestinian Ambassador condoling with General Vo Nguyen Giap's relatives

He said, “I felt at ease when I personally offered incense to commemorate General Vo Nguyen Giap and fulfilled my promise to him at his 100th birthday to translate the book into Arabic to show my respect for him and meet the desire of Palestinian people to learn more about the career of the great person.”

Mr. Saadi Salama has been proud to be one of the lucky foreigners having a chance to meet, talk and take photos with the legendary Vietnamese General. He said that living, studying and working in Vietnam for a long time helped him understand the influence of the General - a bright example for those struggling for national independence.

The Palestinian Ambassador proudly recalled the occasions he had a chance to meet General Giap as an interpreter at General Giap’s reception to Palestinian President Arafat in 1989 and 1991. These occasions helped him understand President Arafat’s love and admiration for the General, a great friend of Palestinian people. Interpretation turned out to be a challenge for him as he had to not only interpret accurately, but also reflect the love, friendship and comradeship of the two leaders.

He still remembered the visit of President Arafat to Vietnam in 1989. At that time, General Giap was assigned to receive the Palestinian delegation at the airport. However, the flight was not on time due to procedure problems of flying over some countries’ airspace. In spite of bad health, General Vo Nguyen Giap stayed at the airport to wait for the delegation. Hours later, after learning about the flight’s delay until the following day, General Giap left the airport. The next day, he and the Vietnamese delegation came back to the airport to receive their Palestinian guests.

What impressed the Ambassador were General Vo Nguyen Giap’s words to encourage Palestinian people, such as “Like Vietnamese people, the Palestinian are very brave. Palestinian people must believe in the future and in the resistance war for national independence” and “Palestinian people must unite all forces, promote solidarity among all walks of life and political parties. These will be weapons to help Palestine to gain independence”.

As an interpreter, Saadi Salama had chances to meet, talk and take photos with General Vo Nguyen Giap.

Moreover, General Vo Nguyen Giap always believed in the success of the Palestinian cause.

The Ambassador said that General Vo Nguyen Giap is a close friend of Palestinian people and the General is often mentioned in stories by Palestinian people about the struggle for national independence, heroism and national movements in the world. Some Palestinian people named their children after the Vietnamese General, and many Palestinian activists used “Giap” as an alias, to show their love for the legendary Vietnamese General.

The Ambassador said that the General’s image, with a warm and confident smile when receiving Palestinian President Arafat, will never fade in his mind.

Source: PANO