Cyrus
10-31-2004, 03:45 AM
Arafat and his Party did not plan any acts of terrorism as serious as future Israeli President Begin had committed as a bona fide, hotel-blowing, women-and-children executing terrorist. Even the highjackings of airplanes in the 70s were the work of PLO offshoots.
Arafat was the most dangerous man Israel ever confronted because he represented what Israel did not want as its opposition -- a statesman prepared to talk peace. Israel has always opted for radicalism among Palestinians because Israel constantly "wins" in war (hot or cold war) while it only stands to "lose" in peace.
Arafat has called on Israel to talk peace time and again. One memorable such instance was when he addressed the UN General Assembly, saying he held a gun and an olive branch, and that he wanted to drop the gun.
The first intifada came about spontaneously, out of mass Palestinian frustration at the continuous Israeli hard line, and the daily hardships and humiliations suffered even when the Palestinians were openly willing to compromise for peace. Arafat officially condemned that first intifada, because it was out of PLO control, and only later came to support it.
That intifada, though, radicalised a large number of Palestinians away from the seeming impasse of supporting moderate Arafat and took them towards Islamic fundamentalism. (This was excellent news for Israel!)
The second intifada was provoked by Ariel Sharon, who visited the Aqsa mosque for that purpose, because it looked for a moment as if Oslo would bring peace between the two nations - an anathema for hardliners such Sharon and Netanyahu. The American-Palestinian academic Edward Said lamented the success of hardliners in the two camps, the Sharons and the Islaimists, because he believed that as long as there was some common ground between the moderates in them, there was hope.
To rejoice in the death of Arafat is to rejoice at the memory of lost opportunities.
--Cyrus
MMMMMM
10-31-2004, 03:54 AM
"Arafat was the most dangerous man Israel confronted because he represented what Israel did not want as its opposition -- a statesman prepared to talk peace."
Yes, Cyrus, he was always ready to talk peace--out of one side of his mouth.
It is not unlikely that Arafat harmed the Palestinians more than anyone in history.
Gamblor
10-31-2004, 04:48 AM
Israel's agreements with the Palestinians obligate both sides "to foster mutual understanding and tolerance and shall accordingly abstain from incitement, including hostile propaganda, against each other."
The Oslo Accords as a temporary truce:
"Question: Do you feel sometimes that you made a mistake in agreeing to Oslo?
Arafat: No... no. Allah's messenger Mohammad accepted the al-Khudaibiya peace treaty and Salah a-Din accepted the peace agreement with Richard the Lion-Hearted."
- Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in a newspaper interview. Historical background: Muhammad made the Khudaibiya agreement with the Arabian tribe of Koreish. That ten-year pact was broken within two years, when the Islamic forces, having strengthened during the cease-fire, conquered the Koreish. Salah a-Din was a Muslim leader who, after a cease-fire, declared a jihad against the Crusaders and captured Jerusalem. (Al-Quds, 10 May 1998)
Praise for Hamas:
Q: In your opinion, is Hamas a terrorist organization?
Arafat: The Hamas movement is one of many patriotic movements.
Q: Even its military wing?
Arafat: Even its military wing. One should not forget that the movement took an active part in the intifada.
- Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Yasser Arafat in an interview with a Russian newspaper. Hamas has committed terrorist attacks in which hundreds of Israeli civilians have been killed. (Novoya Vremya, 25 May 1997)
"When we stopped the Intifada we did not stop the Jihad[Islamic holy war] to establish Palestine with Jerusalem as our capital... We know only one word: Jihad, Jihad, Jihad..."
- Yasser Arafat, in a speech at the Dehaishe refugee camp near Bethlehem, 22 October 1996 (Yediot Aharonot, 23 October 1996)
"War! War! Continue the struggle!"
- Yasser Arafat, in a speech at the Dehaishe refugee camp near Bethlehem, 22 October 1996 (Arutz-7 Radio, 23 October 1996)
"We sacrifice our blood and ourselves for Palestine!"
- Response chanted by the Palestinian crowd to Arafat's above call for war (Arutz-7 Radio, 23 October 1996)
"The Israelis are mistaken if they think we do not have an alternative to negotiations. By Allah I swear they are wrong. The Palestinian people are prepared to sacrifice the last boy and the last girl so that the Palestinian flag will be flown over the walls, the churches and the mosques of Jerusalem."
- Yasser Arafat, in a speech given on 6 August 1995 at a party to celebrate the birth of his daughter (Haaretz, 6 September 1995; The Jerusalem Post, 7 September 1995)
"The struggle will continue until all of Palestine is liberated."
- Yasser Arafat (Voice of Palestine Radio, 11 November 1995)
On the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Jenin, in northern Samaria:
"Liberated Jenin is just the first step. This year, we shall pray under the Palestinian flag in Bethlehem and we shall also pray in Jerusalem."
- PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, in a speech given in Jenin on 19 November 1995 after Israeli forces had left the city (Davar Rishon, 20 November 1995, page 2)
On pre-1967 Israel:
"Be blessed, O Gaza, and celebrate, for your sons are returning after a long celebration. O Gaza, your sons are returning. O Jaffa, O Lod, O Haifa, O Jerusalem, you are returning, you are returning."
- P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat, at a reception held in his honor in Gaza (Maariv, 7 September 1995)
On Jerusalem:
"We are all seekers of martyrdom in the path of truth and right toward Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Palestine."
- P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat, in a speech given at Al-Azhar University in Gaza on 19 June 1995 (Palestine Broadcasting Corporation, 19 June 1995)
"Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Palestine whether someone likes it or not, and whoever does not like it, let him drink from the sea of Gaza."
- P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat, in a speech given at a party to celebrate the birth of his daughter (Palestine Broadcasting Corporation, 6 August 1995)
On praise for terrorists:
"Yes, we are proud of the Palestinian girl, the Palestinian woman and the Palestinian child who fulfilled these miracles. The Palestinian woman participated in the Palestinian revolution. The Palestinian girl participated in the Palestinian revolution. Abir al-Wahidi, commander of the central region [al-Wahidi participated in the murder of Israeli Zvi Klein in December 1991] and Dalal al-Maghrabi, Martyr of Palestine [al-Maghrabi took part in the Coastal Road Massacre in March 1978, in which 37 Israelis were killed]. I bow in respect and admiration to the Palestinian woman who receives her martyred son with joyful cheering. The soul and blood for you, O Palestine!"
- P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat, in a speech given on 3 September 1995 at the al-Fatah girls school in Gaza to mark the opening of the school year (Israel Channel Two Television, 19 September 1995)
On jihad (holy war) against Israel:
"The commitment still stands and the oath is still valid: that we will continue this long jihad, this difficult jihad... via deaths, via sacrifices."
- P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat, in a speech given at Al-Azhar University in Gaza on 19 June 1995 (The Jerusalem Post, 3 August 1995)
"All of us are willing to be martyrs along the way, until our flag flies over Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine. Let no one think they can scare us with weapons, for we have mightier weapons - the weapon of faith, the weapon of martyrdom, the weapon of jihad."
- P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat, in a speech given to Palestinian laborers in Gaza in January 1995 (Parade Magazine, New York Newsday, 25 June 1995)
"Our nation is a nation of sacrifice, struggle and jihad."
- P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat, in a speech relayed by telephone to a rally in Hebron (Voice of Palestine, 14 February 1995)
On Jerusalem:
"We promise you, oh our great nation, and we promise you, oh our pure martyrs, that we will continue the revolution until the victory and until the flag of my country flies over the towers of Jerusalem. This is a revolution until victory."
- P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat, in a message to mark Land Day (Voice of Palestine, 31 March 1995)
On whether the P.L.O. police force will work with Israel against terrorism:
"The Joint Security Coordination and Cooperation Committee set up under Article II hereunder shall develop a plan to ensure full coordination between the Israeli military forces and the Palestinian police..."
- from the agreement signed by Israel and the P.L.O. in Cairo on 4 May 1994 (paragraph 2a of Annex I to the agreement)
"Let no one think that they can scare us with their stronger weapons, for we have a mightier weapon - the weapon of faith, the weapon of martyrdom, the weapon of holy war."
- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O., at a funeral for 3 P.L.O. policemen who were killed in a gun battle with Israeli soldiers (The New York Times, 4 January 1995)
On the struggle against Israel:
"In order to obtain the goal of returning to Palestine, all of us sometimes have to grit our teeth. But it is forbidden that this harm the continued struggle against the Zionist enemy. Cooperation and understanding between the P.L.O. and the rejectionist organizations is what will lead to the speedy retreat of Israel from the occupied territories in the first stage, untilthe establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem. Only a state like that can then continue the struggle to remove the enemy from all Palestinian lands."
- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O., in a letter to heads of the rejectionist front in neighboring Arab countries (The Jerusalem Post, 18 November 1994)
On the "Zionist enemy":
"Today, we are celebrating our independence for the first time on Palestinian land, and we will continue to celebrate on Palestinian lands that will be freed from the Zionist enemy. We will take all open and freed land, and we will establish our state on those territories from which the Israeli enemy leaves."
- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O., in a speech to 5,000 people in Gaza (Yediot Aharonot, 16 November 1994)
On Jerusalem:
"The jihad will continue... You have to understand our main battle is Jerusalem... You have to come and to fight a jihad to liberate Jerusalem, your precious shrine... No, it is not their capital. It is our capital."
- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O., in a speech delivered at a mosque in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 10 May 1994 (Israel Radio, 17 May 1994; The Jerusalem Post, 18 May 1994)
On Palestinian statehood:
"We still have before us the task of completing the comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from all the occupied territories, at the forefront of which is Holy Jerusalem, the capital city of our independent state."
- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O. (Voice of Palestine, Algiers, 31 December 1993)
On Yasser Arafat:
Arafat is "a mixture between Nelson Mandela's charisma and Idi Amin's or even Saddam Hussein's methods of governing."
- Yasser Abd Rabbo, senior P.L.O. official (U.S. News and World Report, 27 December 1993)
"Since September 13, Arafat has reached a new level of megalomania no one had ever imagined."
- a member of the P.L.O. Executive Committee (U.S. News and World Report, 27 December 1993)
Arafat "is beyond hope of reform. He has taken decisions alone for so long that he is fossilized in his ways."
- Haidar Abdel Shafi, former head of the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks with Israel (Washington Post, 16 January 1994)
"It is a revolution until victory, until victory, until victory."
- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O. (Voice of Palestine, Algiers, 31 December 1993)
Yasser Arafat through the years:
The 1970's:
"The goal of our struggle is the end of Israel, and there can be no compromise."
- Yasser Arafat (Washington Post, 29 March 1970)
"You are the generation that will reach the sea and hoist the flag of Palestine over Tel Aviv."
- Yasser Arafat (ANSA, Cairo, 25 July 1974)
"Even if only one guerilla cub survives the prolonged struggle, I am confident that he will raise the flag of Palestine over Jerusalem... Jerusalem is destined to be the eternal capital of our sovereign, independent Palestinian state under the P.L.O. leadership."
- Yasser Arafat (Associated Press, 8 May 1979)
The 1980's:
"Peace for us means the destruction of Israel. We are preparing for an all-out war, a war which will last for generations."
- Yasser Arafat (El Mundo, Caracas, Venezuela, 11 February 1980)
"The victory march will continue until the Palestinian flag flies in Jerusalem and in all of Palestine - from the Jordan River to the Meditteranean Sea and from Rosh Hanikra to Eilat."
- Yasser Arafat, in a speech at the University of Beirut(Sawt Falastin, 7 December 1980)
"The war of attrition against the Zionist enemy will never cease."
- Yasser Arafat (Al Destour, 26 December 1983)
The 1990's:
"Soon we will raise the flag of Palestine over the liberated Palestinian land."
- Yasser Arafat (Voice of Palestine, Algiers, 17 November 1993)
"We will remain together until we reach Jerusalem, with God's help."
- Yasser Arafat, in a letter to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (Voice of the Palestinian Revolution, Baghdad, 15 November 1993)
On Jerusalem and Palestinian statehood:
"He speaks of his Jerusalem and I speak of my Jerusalem. I'm speaking of a Jerusalem that was occupied..."
- Yasser Arafat (Associated Press, 8 December 1993)
"Soon we will raise the flag of Palestine over the liberated Palestinian land."
- Yasser Arafat (Voice of Palestine, Algiers, 17 November 1993)
The agreement "will be a basis for an independent Palestinian state in accordance with the Palestine National Council resolution issued in 1974... The PNC resolution issued in 1974 calls for the establishment of a national authority on any part of Palestinian soil from which Israel withdraws or which is liberated."
- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O. (Radio Monte Carlo, 1 September 1993. The resolution referred to is the "Phased Plan", which calls for the creation of a Palestinian state as the first in a series of stages culminating in the destruction of Israel.)
On Jerusalem and statehood in stages:
"Anyone who relinquishes a single inch of Jerusalem is neither an Arab nor a Muslim."\
- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O. (Voice of Palestine, Algiers, 2 September 1993)
Cyrus
10-31-2004, 07:17 AM
The "sources" that provide you with such ready-made material are of course happy to quote Arafat out of context and paint him as just another "lunatic towel-head".
The truth is, Arafat and the PLO have tried to negotiate (have tried to convince them they exist even!) with the Israelis for decades. During that time, the Palestinians have been engaging in acts of resistance (as best as they could) and preparing for those future negotiations.
The positions that the PLO leadership has taken over the years has been typical of pre-negotiation positioning, in any kind of negotiations.
The true trend of Palestinian intentions can be tracked when one follows their positions throughout the last five decades. As all those revisionist Jewish historians you so despise have corroborated, Arafat and the Arabs have been ready to negotiate practically since 1949. Israel however wanted more land.
And when Israel got all the land it wanted, it still kept on the belligerence, just so that the last objective of Reformed Zionism (i.e. supremacy in the Middle East) is achieved!
A cursory look at the balance of power between the two sides (=Israel always more strong than all its adversaries combined) puts the lie into the argument that Palestinians "always wanted war and not peace".
The rest is chaff.
Gamblor
10-31-2004, 12:54 PM
I can see you're already a little dizzy
Arafat: No... no. Allah's messenger Mohammad accepted the al-Khudaibiya peace treaty and Salah a-Din accepted the peace agreement with Richard the Lion-Hearted."
- Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in a newspaper interview. Historical background: Muhammad made the Khudaibiya agreement with the Arabian tribe of Koreish. That ten-year pact was broken within two years, when the Islamic forces, having strengthened during the cease-fire, conquered the Koreish. Salah a-Din was a Muslim leader who, after a cease-fire, declared a jihad against the Crusaders and captured Jerusalem. (Al-Quds, 10 May 1998)
If Osama bin Laden appeared, on 9/12, on your front doorstep to negotiate peace, would you let him in? If he's prepared to murder and massacre innocents for political goals (as Arafat as given his OK to), what makes you think he's above lying?
Your boy Clinton also had some choice words about Mr. Arafat in his autobiography. Why don't you check that out.
Cyrus
10-31-2004, 02:39 PM
You are quoting Arafat quoting Islamic metaphors and pronouncements, as evidence that Arafat is like ..bin Laden!
The truth, of course, is that Arafat and the PLO have always been secular in their struggle against Israeli brutality, aggression and ethnic cleansing, welcoming in their midst anyone, Christian, Jew or Muslim, who would support their struggle for self-determination.
The Israelis, after decades of bloody effort, have managed to prop up the Islamic fundamentalist faction of the Palestinian resistance, from a mere supporting, humanist role, to prominent, powerful centre stage. Arafat lost the street, since the majority of Palestinians and especially the youth became desperate at ever reaching an agreement, a way out with Israel, and he lost the moderates for the same reason. The unrelenting Israeli aggression and belligerence radicalised the Palestinians away from Arafat -- hence Arafat's purely political efforts to position himself as someone close to "Islam".
(Note that this is similar to Saddam Hussein's embracing back the mullahs of Iraq, after decades of chasing away the Muslim fundamentalists and putting to death hundreds of Muslim terrorists! Saddam had his hand forced because he was left totally isolated in the Arab world and inside Iraq.)
I will congratulate the Israelis for a job well done in radicalising the Palestinian resistance to the point that the West now "understands" Israel's murderous aggression towards Palestinian women and children! I will congratulate Israel for a job well done in (finally!) marginalizing Yasser Arafat and rendering him unimportant in the scheme of things. I will congratulate Israel for a job well done in getting away with ripping up the American-sponsored "Roadmap For Peace" without even getting slapped in the wrist.
Yes, I will do all that. But don't ask me to believe the crap you are sprouting about "Arafat the Muslim terrorist", I know better.
And you do as well.
Gamblor
11-01-2004, 03:02 AM
Don't forget that Haj Amin el-Husseini, aside from being the most influential proponent of the Arab cause, a Jew-hater, incitor to mass violence, and a high-roller on Hitler's payroll, was also the uncle of one Abu Ammar, also known as Yasser Arafat.
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