Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - April 2, 2002

We went to visit the port. The first phase of the new dock is being completed to accommodate ships with a capacity of 10,000 tons.

The second phase is built as a breakwater for the relaxation pond, but they are not valid for dredging, docks and equipment.

Egypt has given Israel a 72-hour ultimatum to close its embassy if it does not withdraw from Palestinian cities. Jordan has also threatened.

Full text of the diary:

We went to visit the port. The first phase of the new dock is being completed to accommodate ships with a capacity of 10,000 tons. The second phase is built as a breakwater for the relaxation pond, but they are not valid for dredging, docks and equipment. They need more than 30 billion tomans. Mr. [Hossein] Nasiri, [Secretary of the Supreme Council of Free Trade-Industrial Zones], recently had a meeting with Mr. Khatami, [the President], but it has not yet yielded any results.

We had a tour of different parts of the island and Mr. Qasemi explained. We went to the under-nylon agriculture center [= greenhouse] of Mr. [Hossein] Shirazi, [CEO of Mahestan Company]. Recently, the Agriculture Bank gave him a loan of one billion tomans and he is engaged in development. He has bought a small desalination plant and is satisfied. We saw examples of his crops: cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, cantaloupes, strawberries, beans, lettuce, and vegetables. 
In Palestine, the cities of Tulkarm and Bethlehem are also occupied by Israel, and house-to-house searches are ongoing for fighters and weapons. So far, 700 people have been arrested and popular demonstrations are increasing throughout the Islamic countries. In Egypt and Jordan, demonstrators who were planning to attack Israeli embassies clashed with police, and tear gas was used, and a number of people were injured.  

In France and Belgium, synagogues have been attacked and set on fire, and France has assigned special police to protect Jewish sites. The United States is under pressure from various quarters to defend and support Israel. Egypt has given Israel a 72-hour ultimatum to close its embassy if it does not withdraw from Palestinian cities. Jordan has also made threats. Today, 45 Palestinians were killed by Israeli bullets and many were wounded and captured.

In the evening, the Friday Imam and a group of clerics who serve in two other mosques in Kish came. Mr. [Mohammad Ali] Taleb, the Friday Imam, spoke about the good things of the people and the social environment of Kish and criticized those who accuse Kish of being promiscuous. Mr. [Ali] Enteshari, the imam of the Kamil Mosque in Tehran, who has been leading the prayer in the Kish Mosque for several weeks, said that since the burial of several martyrs in the mosque, the number of people visiting the mosque has increased. Mr. [Hamzeh] Naqshbandi, the only native student of Kish who came to Kish using the Hijra plan, praised the Hijra plan and asked me to tell the Kish Free Zone Organization to help establish a cultural center for the rescue of young people and also to provide a house for himself. Mr. Talib said that the Policy Council of the Friday Imams had dismissed him and complained about his services in Minab and here before the revolution.