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Assassination, Occupation, Separation
Sharon's Preemptive Zeal
No more than a month ago I sat with a friend drinking coffee at the Hillel Cafe in Jerusalem. Today it is a shattered edifice, with blood stains on the floor. Indeed, this was the first thought that crossed my mind after hearing the news about the horrific suicide attack that left another 7 Israelis dead and 45 wounded. "I could have been there," I said to myself.
It is a frightening thought, one that has crossed the mind of many an Israeli, particularly since the eruption of the second Intifada in September 2000 -- a period in which 244 suicide attacks have been carried out. Just as disturbing, though, is the thought that this bloody reality has been accepted by the Israeli public as part of their daily routine; so much so that the same people who are terrified to leave their homes now consider Israel's gory mode of existence as their karma, as if the political realm were in some odd way predetermined.
But politics, as the great Jewish thinker Hannah Arendt repeatedly stated, is the realm of freedom, where humans actually have the opportunity to begin something new through speech and deed. Even "in the epochs of petrifaction and foreordained doom," she claimed, the faculty of freedom, "which animates and inspires all human activities and is the hidden source of production of all great and beautiful things" usually remains intact.
What Israelis and Palestinians have been witnessing in the past few weeks is a concerted effort to destroy the road that might have led the two peoples out of a foreordained doom and into a new beginning. Notwithstanding the impression some people might have, this myopic effort has been led by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, not only by Hamas. His strategy is one of preemptive strikes.
Approximately two months ago, the different Palestinians factions decided to implement a houdna (ceasefire in Arabic) and to stop attacking Israeli targets. Despite the fact that numerous militant groups operate without a central command in the Occupied Territories, for almost a month and a half the houdna managed to hold up. While one assault was perpetrated in the West Bank by a small splinter group, the violence had subsided and it appeared as if serious negotiations would resume.
Then, suddenly, as if out of the blue, the Israeli military invaded Askar refugee camp, killing four Palestinians, including two members of Izzeddin Al-Qassam, Hamas' military wing. The operation was a preemptive strike, the Israeli spokesman explained.
The Palestinians decided not to retaliate.
Less than a week later, on August 14, Israeli troops entered Hebron and killed a member of the Islamic Jihad. Another preemptive attack. Only this time the Palestinians did respond, and on August 19 a suicide bomber exploded inside a public bus. Israel, in turn, used its forces to carry out a series of extra-judicial executions, and now a month after the preemptive assault on Askar camp, the streets between the Jordan Valley and the Mediterranean Sea are once again covered with blood.
The logic of preemptive strikes, however, does not merely inform Sharon's policy of extra-judicial executions; it is the logic that has informed his actions throughout his military and political careers.
Three examples will have to suffice: the Jewish settlements, the Lebanon War, and the separation wall.
Sharon is considered by many to be the father of Israel's unruly settlement project. He earned this title while serving as Minister of Agriculture during Menachem Begin's first government. Sharon had hoped to become Defense Minister and was disappointed when Ezer Weizmann received the appointment, but minor details of this kind have never stopped him from pursuing his goals.
Weizmann opposed the settlement project and opined that Israel should withdraw from the territories within the framework of a peace accord. Sharon, on the other hand, believes in the Greater Israel, and, in order to preempt the possibility of any future agreement based on land for peace, he initiated, as the chair of the government's Settlement Committee, a massive settlement enterprise. Whereas Israel built 20 settlements between 1967 and 1976, within less than four years Sharon managed to build close to 50 new settlements, totally changing the landscape of the West Bank.
In August 1981, Sharon became Defense Minister. Four years earlier, he had told an Israeli reporter that "the Arab states are swiftly preparing for war, and we are sitting on a barrel of explosives wasting our time on nonsense. The Arabs," he continued, "will launch a war in the summer or the fall." The war did not come, at least not until Sharon assumed office.
The story of how Sharon led Israel into Lebanon, hoping to establish a puppet government in order to preempt attacks from the north, is by now well known. When Israel finally withdrew its forces 20 years later, thousands of civilians and soldiers lay buried in the ground, hundreds of thousands of people had been displaced, and much of Lebanon was in shatters, but Sharon held on to the logic of the preemptive strike.
Not unlike the settlement project, Lebanon War, and extra-judicial executions, the separation wall should also be conceived as a preemptive attack. While Sharon declares that the wall is being built solely for security reasons, he neglects to say that it is not being erected on the 1967 borders, and is actually being used as an extremely effective mechanism to expropriate Palestinian land and create facts on the ground so as to preempt any future agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Its effect is not less violent than the assassinations and suicide bombings. Already in this early stage, the wall has infringed on the rights of more than 210,000 Palestinians, some of whom now live in ghettos between the wall and Israel.
The crux of the matter is that Sharon's preemptive logic undercuts all form of dialogue and negotiations. Its rule of thumb is violence, and then more violence, whether it manifests itself as a military attack or as an aggressive act of dispossession. So while it may seem that the bloody routine is in some way preordained, it is actually Sharon's preemptive zeal alongside Hamas' and Islamic Jihad's fundamentalism that has clouded the horizon and concealed, as Arendt might have said, the possibility for a better future.
Neve Gordon teaches politics and human rights at Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and has written about the outsourcing technique within the Israeli context for the Journal of Human Rights.
It is a frightening thought, one that has crossed the mind of many an Israeli, particularly since the eruption of the second Intifada in September 2000 -- a period in which 244 suicide attacks have been carried out. Just as disturbing, though, is the thought that this bloody reality has been accepted by the Israeli public as part of their daily routine; so much so that the same people who are terrified to leave their homes now consider Israel's gory mode of existence as their karma, as if the political realm were in some odd way predetermined.
But politics, as the great Jewish thinker Hannah Arendt repeatedly stated, is the realm of freedom, where humans actually have the opportunity to begin something new through speech and deed. Even "in the epochs of petrifaction and foreordained doom," she claimed, the faculty of freedom, "which animates and inspires all human activities and is the hidden source of production of all great and beautiful things" usually remains intact.
What Israelis and Palestinians have been witnessing in the past few weeks is a concerted effort to destroy the road that might have led the two peoples out of a foreordained doom and into a new beginning. Notwithstanding the impression some people might have, this myopic effort has been led by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, not only by Hamas. His strategy is one of preemptive strikes.
Approximately two months ago, the different Palestinians factions decided to implement a houdna (ceasefire in Arabic) and to stop attacking Israeli targets. Despite the fact that numerous militant groups operate without a central command in the Occupied Territories, for almost a month and a half the houdna managed to hold up. While one assault was perpetrated in the West Bank by a small splinter group, the violence had subsided and it appeared as if serious negotiations would resume.
Then, suddenly, as if out of the blue, the Israeli military invaded Askar refugee camp, killing four Palestinians, including two members of Izzeddin Al-Qassam, Hamas' military wing. The operation was a preemptive strike, the Israeli spokesman explained.
The Palestinians decided not to retaliate.
Less than a week later, on August 14, Israeli troops entered Hebron and killed a member of the Islamic Jihad. Another preemptive attack. Only this time the Palestinians did respond, and on August 19 a suicide bomber exploded inside a public bus. Israel, in turn, used its forces to carry out a series of extra-judicial executions, and now a month after the preemptive assault on Askar camp, the streets between the Jordan Valley and the Mediterranean Sea are once again covered with blood.
The logic of preemptive strikes, however, does not merely inform Sharon's policy of extra-judicial executions; it is the logic that has informed his actions throughout his military and political careers.
Three examples will have to suffice: the Jewish settlements, the Lebanon War, and the separation wall.
Sharon is considered by many to be the father of Israel's unruly settlement project. He earned this title while serving as Minister of Agriculture during Menachem Begin's first government. Sharon had hoped to become Defense Minister and was disappointed when Ezer Weizmann received the appointment, but minor details of this kind have never stopped him from pursuing his goals.
Weizmann opposed the settlement project and opined that Israel should withdraw from the territories within the framework of a peace accord. Sharon, on the other hand, believes in the Greater Israel, and, in order to preempt the possibility of any future agreement based on land for peace, he initiated, as the chair of the government's Settlement Committee, a massive settlement enterprise. Whereas Israel built 20 settlements between 1967 and 1976, within less than four years Sharon managed to build close to 50 new settlements, totally changing the landscape of the West Bank.
In August 1981, Sharon became Defense Minister. Four years earlier, he had told an Israeli reporter that "the Arab states are swiftly preparing for war, and we are sitting on a barrel of explosives wasting our time on nonsense. The Arabs," he continued, "will launch a war in the summer or the fall." The war did not come, at least not until Sharon assumed office.
The story of how Sharon led Israel into Lebanon, hoping to establish a puppet government in order to preempt attacks from the north, is by now well known. When Israel finally withdrew its forces 20 years later, thousands of civilians and soldiers lay buried in the ground, hundreds of thousands of people had been displaced, and much of Lebanon was in shatters, but Sharon held on to the logic of the preemptive strike.
Not unlike the settlement project, Lebanon War, and extra-judicial executions, the separation wall should also be conceived as a preemptive attack. While Sharon declares that the wall is being built solely for security reasons, he neglects to say that it is not being erected on the 1967 borders, and is actually being used as an extremely effective mechanism to expropriate Palestinian land and create facts on the ground so as to preempt any future agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Its effect is not less violent than the assassinations and suicide bombings. Already in this early stage, the wall has infringed on the rights of more than 210,000 Palestinians, some of whom now live in ghettos between the wall and Israel.
The crux of the matter is that Sharon's preemptive logic undercuts all form of dialogue and negotiations. Its rule of thumb is violence, and then more violence, whether it manifests itself as a military attack or as an aggressive act of dispossession. So while it may seem that the bloody routine is in some way preordained, it is actually Sharon's preemptive zeal alongside Hamas' and Islamic Jihad's fundamentalism that has clouded the horizon and concealed, as Arendt might have said, the possibility for a better future.
Neve Gordon teaches politics and human rights at Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and has written about the outsourcing technique within the Israeli context for the Journal of Human Rights.
For more information:
http://www.counterpunch.org
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She says, it is actually Sharon's preemptive zeal alongside Hamas' and Islamic Jihad's fundamentalism that has clouded the horizon and concealed, as Arendt might have said, the possibility for a better future.
This is such a lie. Sharon wasn't PM at Camp David and Taba when Barak offered everything to Arafat including Jerusalem.
The problem is 2 words. Arab Rejectionism.
It is a well known and documented fact that Palestinians, along with their current leadership, don't want peace nor a seperate state, but want all of Israel. This is the real reason the PLO rejected peace at Camp David and Taba. You can read this article by Dennis Ross, who goes into detail how Arafat rejected peace at Camp David and Taba, because he wants all of Israel. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/168lewqp.asp
The PLO who rejects all offers of peace, including Camp David and Taba, because The PLO entity represents a dictatorial oppressive and aggressive regime, whose goal is to eliminate the Jewish state by terror or diplomacy or by a combination of both.
Just recently Arafat told a group of Palestinian youth who'd come to see him on "Children's Day" that martyrdom was their highest national and religious calling. Only Palestinian leaders celebrate Children's Day by telling children to kill themselves. Check out this link which goes into detail about the sadism Arafat teaches Palestinian children. Even a radical leftist like you should be shocked at the poison Arafat teaches pal children. http://www.pmw.org.il/new/ASK%20FOR%20DEATH.htm
Read this article. Arafat blackmailing woman to be suicide bombers. You really start to see how sick Arafat is.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0n2a0
Seems like every time the Palestinians get a deal offered to them, they just reject it and a fresh round of suicide bombings start. No matter how good a deal Israel puts on the table, Palestinian terrorists will never accept anything less than Israel's complete erasure from the map of the Middle East. These people themselves admit to that fact. Because too much is never enough for the Palestinians. The terror gangs Hamas, Arafat and Islamic Jihad, all say it's a HOLY WAR to kill the Jews.
Suicide bombers target anybody, they target people with nothing to do with anything.
Israelis target those who fund and carry out suicide bombers.
There is a difference between terrorism and defense of innocents.
Israel targets terrorists, Israeli civilian deaths are the Palestinians goal.
Big difference
Hamas and Arafat derive their legitimacy by killing Israeli secretaries and high schoolers.
How do the Palestinians raise so many people who have no regard for human life? What kind of gutter do these animals come from? What kind of Evil could think it is an act of heroic and religious martyrdom to slaughter children waiting for buses, to blow apart people in their sleep, to kill women doing their marketing, to target the weak and defenseless. Why do the Palestinians clamor like voltures to take credit when they butcher Israeli school kids on a school bus. What kind of monsters are these people.
Having a conflict is far more useful to Arafat then a solution will ever be.
If the PA made a real peace they would be responsible for health care, jobs, and ending poverty. They know they cant do that, because they steal all the aid the EU, U.S and Asia give them. This is why they need a conflict to divert attention to this.
This is what the Palestinians want.
On Arafat's Fateh site, it says this about Arafat's constitution. http://www.fateh.net/e_public/constitution.htm
Article (19) Armed struggle is a strategy and not a tactic, and the Palestinian Arab People's armed revolution is a decisive factor in the liberation fight and in uprooting the Zionist existence, and this struggle will not cease unless the Zionist state is demolished and Palestine is completely liberated.
http://www.mideastweb.org/hamas.htm
The principles of the Hamas are stated in their Covenant. On Hamas charter, it says.
Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it.
http://www.iris.org.il/quotes/stockhlm.htm
Arafat's speech in Sweden in 1996.
Arafat’s speech in front of 40 Arab diplomats in the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 30, 1996. Was called "The Impending Collapse of Israel". Arafat said, Our goal is the total Destruction of Israel. We will take over everything including all of Jerusalem," he declared repeatedly. "You understand that we plan to eliminate the State of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian State. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion; Jews will not want to live among us Arabs!"
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/142002f.asp
The top Al Asqa terrorist has told USA Today all terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians come from Yasser Arafat.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0lo90
Senior Fatah Leaders Describe Arafat's Link to Terrorism
http://debka.com/article_print.php?aid=499
This article below shows that Arafat has always run the terrorist operation but has opened three or four fronts for the terrorists to use that are under Arafat's control.
It also allows Arafat to effectively use doublespeak in regards to terrorist attacks. Hamas claims responsibility and Arafat says he didn't do it. But he rented the people to Hamas who did do it. It's Arafat's oldest game."
Check out this article. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/06/23/MN285456.DTL
Arafat uses Libyan money from Khadafy to finance Al Aqsa Brigades. You notice the money doesn't go to the average Palestinian. It goes to finance terrorism.
Read this article in the Washington Times. http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020314-19136531.htm
Its by Paul Martin. Martin documents how Fatah and Hamas are in competition who can kill the most Israeli civilians. They even had score cards whose killed the most Israeli civilians.
http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=14650
Monday, November 25, 2002
The Hamas advocates Killing Jews, simply for being Jews
24 November 2002
The Iz-Adin Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas, published
(23 November 2002) a bulletin on their official website, advocating the murder of Jews simply for the fact of that they are Jews.
The bulletin was published to commemerate the anniversary of the death of Imad Akal, a senior Hamas official, killed in the Gaza Strip on November 24, 1993. The bulletin quotes Akal as saying: "We will knock on the doors of Heaven with the skulls of the Jews". The bulletin depicts an axe shattering the word "Al-Yahud" (Jews) and splintering the skulls of Jews. The words Al-Qassam are engraved on the axe.
http://www.jewishnewhaven.org/whats_happening_main.epl?hot_topics_id=1319
A poll by Global Attitudes Project, provided interesting findings. 80% of Palestinians, as well as large majorities in other Arab countries polled agree with this statement: THE RIGHTS AND NEEDS OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE CANNOT BE TAKEN CARE OF AS LONG AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL EXISTS". SO THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE ARAB WORLD BELIEVES THAT THE ONLY REAL SOLUTION IS FOR ISRAEL TO CEASE TO EXIST.
On the same day in 1993 on which Yasser Arafat signed the Declaration of Principles on the White House lawn, he spoke the following words on Jordan TV:
"Since we cannot defeat Israel in war we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-120601holy.story
Sheikh Muhammed Siyam, a Hamas military leader said this. "I've been told to restrict or restrain what I say. I hope no one is recording me or taking any pictures, as none are allowed, because I'm going to speak the truth to you," Siyam reportedly said at the conference. "It's simple. Finish off the Israelis. Kill them all! Exterminate them! No peace ever! Do not bother to talk politics."
This from last month. http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=315114&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
The hudna and the relative calm are very fragile. And there are plenty who would like to undermine it. "This is a temporary situation and Hamas has not changed its policy for the destruction of the Jewish state," Hamas radical Abdel Aziz Rantisi said on Saturday in Gaza.
Whats interesting about the Al Aqsa terrorist admitting, Arafat is ordering all these massacres. . This means, Arafat ordered the Kibbutz Metzer massacre, Tel Aviv massacre on January 12, 03, where 2 Al Aqsa homicide bombers murdered 23 Israeli civilians in Tel Aviv, Bat Mitzvah massacre in 2001, where a Al Aqsa gunman massacred 6 Israeli civilians at a Bar Mitzvah.
Infact, to show you how murderous these Palestinians are. They even brag in there media about these massacres. Read this.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/jeff/jacoby011003.asp
After the Tel Aviv massacre on January 12th, where 2 Palestinian homicide bombers massacred 23 Israeli civilians. The PLO web site posted a statement -- celebrating the attacks:
"With faith in the calling of holy jihad," it said, "two suicide attackers . . . succeeded this evening to infiltrate the Zionist roadblocks and to enter the heart of . . . Tel Aviv and carried out two consecutive suicide attacks... These suicide attacks caused a large number of fatalities and casualties in the center of the Zionist occupation of our land. We swear before our people that additional suicide operations will occur."
That is a view with which much of Arab opinion concurs. ArabicNews.com, for example, datelined its story on the Tel Aviv attack "Palestine-Israel," and reported that the bombings had killed "23 Israeli settlers."
http://www.jnewswire.com/editorial/02/11/021121_hollow_condemnations.htm
Following the murderous terrorist attack on Kibbutz Metzer, the PLO cold-bloodedly stated on its official website, "We will continue to strike in any place, targeting their children as well." Five innocent Israelis, including a mother and her two little boys, were butchered in that attack, all of them, Fatah said, "Zionist colonizers" killed in a "qualitative operation in the settlement of Metzer."
http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=countries&Area=palestinian&ID=SP23701
After the disco massacre last year, which murdered 21 Israeli school girls, a German TV station interviewed the father of the homicide bomber, who showed a letter he received from Arafat, where Arafat praised and glorified his son's actions. Its good to know, Tony Blair thinks Arafat who praises when Palestinians slaughter Israeli woman and children is a man of peace.
Holy Shit are these Palestinians Pure Evil. Now Arafat is trying to slaughter Orphans and homeless children
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1048922665042 Mar. 30, 2003
Last week, Israeli security forces announced the capture of a Fatah-affiliated teenager sent on a suicide mission meant to kill hundreds of people.
Officials said the target was a home for 180 orphans and homeless children in Jerusalem. They said the 17-year-old Palestinian from the Bethlehem area was sent with a suitcase filled with explosives to blow up the school.
http://www.jewsweek.com/myturn/323.htm
Shoshana Gottleib, a young, religious mother of four, who told her story, she was in was attacked by murderous Palestinian machine-gun fire by terrorists, and how bending down to put orange peels in a plastic bag, she avoided the bullet that went through her headrest. As it was, Shoshana was critically injured, her spinal cord severed, paralyzing her for life from the chest down. One of the most interesting parts of Shoshana's presentation was her revelation that the terrorists who opened fire on her were three policemen in Arafat's Palestinian Authority, a fourth, who was Arafat's personal bodyguard in Force 17, and a fifth who had been recruited with the promise of $500. One of the terrorists videotaped the attack on the van, and it was sent to Yasir Arafat.
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COMMENTARY.HTM
Following a recent suicide bombing, prominent Palestinian columnist Fahd al-Rimawi - writing with obvious approval of both Yasir Arafat and his new Prime Minister in Amman al-Majd, celebrated the genocidal act of terror: "Let us rejoice and applaud the operation with the sweetest of songs and ululations (sic). We greet that act of ingeniousness with the sweetest of chants and we bid farewel to our bold martyrs who have lit the night of Jerusalem...and given luster and meaning to Arab valor....We will not apologize for the Jewish blood that will be spilt nor denounce the heroic actions of the mujahidin who represent the soul of this nation and echo the pulse of the masses and the Palestinian people's conscience...."
Here is the Bat Mitzvah massacre Arafat ordered. Documents Israel captured in April 2002, showed he ordered this.
http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?enPage=ViewsPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Article%5El451&enZone=Views&enVersion=0&
Nina Kardashov was joyfully celebrating her bat-mitzvah, the rite of passage to Jewish womanhood, with her friends and family. The band was playing, couples were dancing. The proud twelve-year-old, resplendent in her party dress, had just appeared on the stage. Then, as the amateur videos so horrifically showed, the Palestinian gunman starting shooting and people started dying, including Nina's grandfather and five other celebrants. An hour later, another celebration took place. In the Palestinian city of Tulkarm, hometown of the gunman, cars honked their horns, men shot in the air, strangers embraced in the streets and handed out candy.
http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?enPage=ViewsPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Article%5El234&enZone=Views&enVersion=0&
Last weekend, after a suicide bomber killed eleven young Israelis at a Jerusalem cafe, and a terrorist with an automatic rifle killed a nine-month-old baby in her stroller in Netanya, thousands celebrated in the West Bank and Gaza. The following night, there was an interview with the father of the Netanya killer. He was proud of his son, saying he had five more sons whom he prayed to Allah would follow in the baby-killer's footsteps. How can you deter a killer who considers murder-suicide the greatest honor in life? Israelis cannot afford to continue enduring the terrible calculus of suicide attacks.
http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?enPage=ViewsPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Article%5El1&enZone=Views&enVersion=0&
When Palestinians dance in the streets after hearing that Israeli civilians have been torn to pieces and charred beyond recognition, that society is expressing a kind of collective death wish. But the bombers and shooters, along with those who funds and direct them, don't just kill Israelis. They also write the death warrants for other Palestinians. They endanger and damage their own families and friends and neighbors. Actions produce consequences, and crimes invite punishment. The Palestinian Authority armed and financed the killers. Arafat called for a million of them. Parents pocketed a payoff from Saddam.
http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?enPage=ViewsPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Article%5El829&enZone=Views&enVersion=0&
After the massacre of men, women, and children in a Jerusalem pizzeria by a Palestinian suicide bomber, there were probably some who believed that Israel would respond with a similar act of violent bloodletting. They were to be disappointed. The F-16 missile attack on the golden-domed PA police station in Ramallah at 1:30am, long after it had been evacuated, was just a red herring, a distraction from the maneuver that Israeli forces were executing at that moment.
This is such a lie. Sharon wasn't PM at Camp David and Taba when Barak offered everything to Arafat including Jerusalem.
The problem is 2 words. Arab Rejectionism.
It is a well known and documented fact that Palestinians, along with their current leadership, don't want peace nor a seperate state, but want all of Israel. This is the real reason the PLO rejected peace at Camp David and Taba. You can read this article by Dennis Ross, who goes into detail how Arafat rejected peace at Camp David and Taba, because he wants all of Israel. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/168lewqp.asp
The PLO who rejects all offers of peace, including Camp David and Taba, because The PLO entity represents a dictatorial oppressive and aggressive regime, whose goal is to eliminate the Jewish state by terror or diplomacy or by a combination of both.
Just recently Arafat told a group of Palestinian youth who'd come to see him on "Children's Day" that martyrdom was their highest national and religious calling. Only Palestinian leaders celebrate Children's Day by telling children to kill themselves. Check out this link which goes into detail about the sadism Arafat teaches Palestinian children. Even a radical leftist like you should be shocked at the poison Arafat teaches pal children. http://www.pmw.org.il/new/ASK%20FOR%20DEATH.htm
Read this article. Arafat blackmailing woman to be suicide bombers. You really start to see how sick Arafat is.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0n2a0
Seems like every time the Palestinians get a deal offered to them, they just reject it and a fresh round of suicide bombings start. No matter how good a deal Israel puts on the table, Palestinian terrorists will never accept anything less than Israel's complete erasure from the map of the Middle East. These people themselves admit to that fact. Because too much is never enough for the Palestinians. The terror gangs Hamas, Arafat and Islamic Jihad, all say it's a HOLY WAR to kill the Jews.
Suicide bombers target anybody, they target people with nothing to do with anything.
Israelis target those who fund and carry out suicide bombers.
There is a difference between terrorism and defense of innocents.
Israel targets terrorists, Israeli civilian deaths are the Palestinians goal.
Big difference
Hamas and Arafat derive their legitimacy by killing Israeli secretaries and high schoolers.
How do the Palestinians raise so many people who have no regard for human life? What kind of gutter do these animals come from? What kind of Evil could think it is an act of heroic and religious martyrdom to slaughter children waiting for buses, to blow apart people in their sleep, to kill women doing their marketing, to target the weak and defenseless. Why do the Palestinians clamor like voltures to take credit when they butcher Israeli school kids on a school bus. What kind of monsters are these people.
Having a conflict is far more useful to Arafat then a solution will ever be.
If the PA made a real peace they would be responsible for health care, jobs, and ending poverty. They know they cant do that, because they steal all the aid the EU, U.S and Asia give them. This is why they need a conflict to divert attention to this.
This is what the Palestinians want.
On Arafat's Fateh site, it says this about Arafat's constitution. http://www.fateh.net/e_public/constitution.htm
Article (19) Armed struggle is a strategy and not a tactic, and the Palestinian Arab People's armed revolution is a decisive factor in the liberation fight and in uprooting the Zionist existence, and this struggle will not cease unless the Zionist state is demolished and Palestine is completely liberated.
http://www.mideastweb.org/hamas.htm
The principles of the Hamas are stated in their Covenant. On Hamas charter, it says.
Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it.
http://www.iris.org.il/quotes/stockhlm.htm
Arafat's speech in Sweden in 1996.
Arafat’s speech in front of 40 Arab diplomats in the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 30, 1996. Was called "The Impending Collapse of Israel". Arafat said, Our goal is the total Destruction of Israel. We will take over everything including all of Jerusalem," he declared repeatedly. "You understand that we plan to eliminate the State of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian State. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion; Jews will not want to live among us Arabs!"
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/142002f.asp
The top Al Asqa terrorist has told USA Today all terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians come from Yasser Arafat.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0lo90
Senior Fatah Leaders Describe Arafat's Link to Terrorism
http://debka.com/article_print.php?aid=499
This article below shows that Arafat has always run the terrorist operation but has opened three or four fronts for the terrorists to use that are under Arafat's control.
It also allows Arafat to effectively use doublespeak in regards to terrorist attacks. Hamas claims responsibility and Arafat says he didn't do it. But he rented the people to Hamas who did do it. It's Arafat's oldest game."
Check out this article. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/06/23/MN285456.DTL
Arafat uses Libyan money from Khadafy to finance Al Aqsa Brigades. You notice the money doesn't go to the average Palestinian. It goes to finance terrorism.
Read this article in the Washington Times. http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020314-19136531.htm
Its by Paul Martin. Martin documents how Fatah and Hamas are in competition who can kill the most Israeli civilians. They even had score cards whose killed the most Israeli civilians.
http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=14650
Monday, November 25, 2002
The Hamas advocates Killing Jews, simply for being Jews
24 November 2002
The Iz-Adin Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas, published
(23 November 2002) a bulletin on their official website, advocating the murder of Jews simply for the fact of that they are Jews.
The bulletin was published to commemerate the anniversary of the death of Imad Akal, a senior Hamas official, killed in the Gaza Strip on November 24, 1993. The bulletin quotes Akal as saying: "We will knock on the doors of Heaven with the skulls of the Jews". The bulletin depicts an axe shattering the word "Al-Yahud" (Jews) and splintering the skulls of Jews. The words Al-Qassam are engraved on the axe.
http://www.jewishnewhaven.org/whats_happening_main.epl?hot_topics_id=1319
A poll by Global Attitudes Project, provided interesting findings. 80% of Palestinians, as well as large majorities in other Arab countries polled agree with this statement: THE RIGHTS AND NEEDS OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE CANNOT BE TAKEN CARE OF AS LONG AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL EXISTS". SO THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE ARAB WORLD BELIEVES THAT THE ONLY REAL SOLUTION IS FOR ISRAEL TO CEASE TO EXIST.
On the same day in 1993 on which Yasser Arafat signed the Declaration of Principles on the White House lawn, he spoke the following words on Jordan TV:
"Since we cannot defeat Israel in war we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-120601holy.story
Sheikh Muhammed Siyam, a Hamas military leader said this. "I've been told to restrict or restrain what I say. I hope no one is recording me or taking any pictures, as none are allowed, because I'm going to speak the truth to you," Siyam reportedly said at the conference. "It's simple. Finish off the Israelis. Kill them all! Exterminate them! No peace ever! Do not bother to talk politics."
This from last month. http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=315114&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
The hudna and the relative calm are very fragile. And there are plenty who would like to undermine it. "This is a temporary situation and Hamas has not changed its policy for the destruction of the Jewish state," Hamas radical Abdel Aziz Rantisi said on Saturday in Gaza.
Whats interesting about the Al Aqsa terrorist admitting, Arafat is ordering all these massacres. . This means, Arafat ordered the Kibbutz Metzer massacre, Tel Aviv massacre on January 12, 03, where 2 Al Aqsa homicide bombers murdered 23 Israeli civilians in Tel Aviv, Bat Mitzvah massacre in 2001, where a Al Aqsa gunman massacred 6 Israeli civilians at a Bar Mitzvah.
Infact, to show you how murderous these Palestinians are. They even brag in there media about these massacres. Read this.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/jeff/jacoby011003.asp
After the Tel Aviv massacre on January 12th, where 2 Palestinian homicide bombers massacred 23 Israeli civilians. The PLO web site posted a statement -- celebrating the attacks:
"With faith in the calling of holy jihad," it said, "two suicide attackers . . . succeeded this evening to infiltrate the Zionist roadblocks and to enter the heart of . . . Tel Aviv and carried out two consecutive suicide attacks... These suicide attacks caused a large number of fatalities and casualties in the center of the Zionist occupation of our land. We swear before our people that additional suicide operations will occur."
That is a view with which much of Arab opinion concurs. ArabicNews.com, for example, datelined its story on the Tel Aviv attack "Palestine-Israel," and reported that the bombings had killed "23 Israeli settlers."
http://www.jnewswire.com/editorial/02/11/021121_hollow_condemnations.htm
Following the murderous terrorist attack on Kibbutz Metzer, the PLO cold-bloodedly stated on its official website, "We will continue to strike in any place, targeting their children as well." Five innocent Israelis, including a mother and her two little boys, were butchered in that attack, all of them, Fatah said, "Zionist colonizers" killed in a "qualitative operation in the settlement of Metzer."
http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=countries&Area=palestinian&ID=SP23701
After the disco massacre last year, which murdered 21 Israeli school girls, a German TV station interviewed the father of the homicide bomber, who showed a letter he received from Arafat, where Arafat praised and glorified his son's actions. Its good to know, Tony Blair thinks Arafat who praises when Palestinians slaughter Israeli woman and children is a man of peace.
Holy Shit are these Palestinians Pure Evil. Now Arafat is trying to slaughter Orphans and homeless children
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1048922665042 Mar. 30, 2003
Last week, Israeli security forces announced the capture of a Fatah-affiliated teenager sent on a suicide mission meant to kill hundreds of people.
Officials said the target was a home for 180 orphans and homeless children in Jerusalem. They said the 17-year-old Palestinian from the Bethlehem area was sent with a suitcase filled with explosives to blow up the school.
http://www.jewsweek.com/myturn/323.htm
Shoshana Gottleib, a young, religious mother of four, who told her story, she was in was attacked by murderous Palestinian machine-gun fire by terrorists, and how bending down to put orange peels in a plastic bag, she avoided the bullet that went through her headrest. As it was, Shoshana was critically injured, her spinal cord severed, paralyzing her for life from the chest down. One of the most interesting parts of Shoshana's presentation was her revelation that the terrorists who opened fire on her were three policemen in Arafat's Palestinian Authority, a fourth, who was Arafat's personal bodyguard in Force 17, and a fifth who had been recruited with the promise of $500. One of the terrorists videotaped the attack on the van, and it was sent to Yasir Arafat.
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COMMENTARY.HTM
Following a recent suicide bombing, prominent Palestinian columnist Fahd al-Rimawi - writing with obvious approval of both Yasir Arafat and his new Prime Minister in Amman al-Majd, celebrated the genocidal act of terror: "Let us rejoice and applaud the operation with the sweetest of songs and ululations (sic). We greet that act of ingeniousness with the sweetest of chants and we bid farewel to our bold martyrs who have lit the night of Jerusalem...and given luster and meaning to Arab valor....We will not apologize for the Jewish blood that will be spilt nor denounce the heroic actions of the mujahidin who represent the soul of this nation and echo the pulse of the masses and the Palestinian people's conscience...."
Here is the Bat Mitzvah massacre Arafat ordered. Documents Israel captured in April 2002, showed he ordered this.
http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?enPage=ViewsPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Article%5El451&enZone=Views&enVersion=0&
Nina Kardashov was joyfully celebrating her bat-mitzvah, the rite of passage to Jewish womanhood, with her friends and family. The band was playing, couples were dancing. The proud twelve-year-old, resplendent in her party dress, had just appeared on the stage. Then, as the amateur videos so horrifically showed, the Palestinian gunman starting shooting and people started dying, including Nina's grandfather and five other celebrants. An hour later, another celebration took place. In the Palestinian city of Tulkarm, hometown of the gunman, cars honked their horns, men shot in the air, strangers embraced in the streets and handed out candy.
http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?enPage=ViewsPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Article%5El234&enZone=Views&enVersion=0&
Last weekend, after a suicide bomber killed eleven young Israelis at a Jerusalem cafe, and a terrorist with an automatic rifle killed a nine-month-old baby in her stroller in Netanya, thousands celebrated in the West Bank and Gaza. The following night, there was an interview with the father of the Netanya killer. He was proud of his son, saying he had five more sons whom he prayed to Allah would follow in the baby-killer's footsteps. How can you deter a killer who considers murder-suicide the greatest honor in life? Israelis cannot afford to continue enduring the terrible calculus of suicide attacks.
http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?enPage=ViewsPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Article%5El1&enZone=Views&enVersion=0&
When Palestinians dance in the streets after hearing that Israeli civilians have been torn to pieces and charred beyond recognition, that society is expressing a kind of collective death wish. But the bombers and shooters, along with those who funds and direct them, don't just kill Israelis. They also write the death warrants for other Palestinians. They endanger and damage their own families and friends and neighbors. Actions produce consequences, and crimes invite punishment. The Palestinian Authority armed and financed the killers. Arafat called for a million of them. Parents pocketed a payoff from Saddam.
http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?enPage=ViewsPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Article%5El829&enZone=Views&enVersion=0&
After the massacre of men, women, and children in a Jerusalem pizzeria by a Palestinian suicide bomber, there were probably some who believed that Israel would respond with a similar act of violent bloodletting. They were to be disappointed. The F-16 missile attack on the golden-domed PA police station in Ramallah at 1:30am, long after it had been evacuated, was just a red herring, a distraction from the maneuver that Israeli forces were executing at that moment.
Let's take your first few comments and deal with them, hmm?
Do you honestly think (I said "honestly") that had, in fact, Barak offered "everything to Arafat including Jerusalem" that such an eventuality would ever materialize?
Do yourself and the rest of us a favour and watch "Shattered Dreams of Peace", an excellent documentary outlining the ups and downs of the Clinton led peace talks, filmed at the time, listen to what the participants had to say, and then come back with a comment. Let's stick with reality here.
Do you honestly think (I said "honestly") that had, in fact, Barak offered "everything to Arafat including Jerusalem" that such an eventuality would ever materialize?
Do yourself and the rest of us a favour and watch "Shattered Dreams of Peace", an excellent documentary outlining the ups and downs of the Clinton led peace talks, filmed at the time, listen to what the participants had to say, and then come back with a comment. Let's stick with reality here.
Arafats goals and objectives are not the same as his peoples goals and objectives which are not the same as your goals and objectives (remember the public opinion surveys I showed you a while back).
Some Middle East experts cntend that "Yasser Arafat was both unwilling to strike a final deal for peace and unable to sign the agreement that was proposed at Camp David. Many of these experts contend that Arafat cannot enter into such an agreement because he lacks credibility with the Arab world, has little standing with the Islamists, and has no legitimacy with the Palestinian people."
However this is only part of the truth the truth is that arafat is as credible as anyone else. infact NO ONE on their side has the credibility to make these negotiations.
So the leader must be more than jsut an ordinary leader they must be one willing to sacrifice their own security because to accept a deal would be to side with the "non revolutionaries" and that would be to risk assasination as a traitor. This happened on the israeli side and they arent nearly as extreme and organized as the extreemists on the palistinians side.
Hee is an interesting analysis of Arafat much of hte stuff further down is quite good I think.
Note how it doesnt say "arafat is evil" it goes into why he does what he does.
"In addition to that, I think it is fair to say over the past 9 years that one can conclude that Arafat was not prepared to give up what in his terms he would regard as the military option. That is the ability to use violence and indeed terrorism to try to extract greater political concessions from the Israelis.
One has to ask oneself why Yasser Arafat alone does not wear anything but a uniform. I think it is symbolic of the fact that he still believes that military option in his terms, since he doesn't have an army, is a useful option.
Beyond that, he is a tactician, not a strategist. I think Israelis mistake this and they see—many of them see in him a person who is determined to destroy the state of Israel. I think that if he had the opportunity, he would do it, but I think he is realistic enough to know that he can't.
But he is not a person who sets a strategic objective and moves toward it. He is much more the kind of a person who wakes up in the morning and tests which way the wind is blowing and adjusts his sails to that direction. He surfs on the back of the suffering of his people, but he does not seek to lead them to any particular safe harbor.
He is a survivor who builds his popularity on his ability to present himself as the struggler, as the man who stands steadfast against all odds, particularly against Israeli tanks. He prefers to present himself as a victim. He is the master of that tactic of the power of the weak in which he avoids all responsibility. The way he does this, Mr. Chairman, is to create a mythological world—and some of you may have experienced this—where he simply makes up things, a mythological world in which he, therefore, is not responsible for anything.
It is usually the Mossad's fault. His first response when he was presented with the evidence of this shipment of arms from Iran was that it was a Mossad plot. When I went to see him after the June bombing 1 year ago, almost 1 year ago today, outside the discotheque in Tel Aviv which killed 21 Israeli teenagers, he told me in great detail how it was a Mossad plot to put him in the corner and make life difficult for him. In this way, they say he manages to escape responsibility for anything to do with living up to his commitments."
"It is not just Prime Minister Sharon who says he won't deal with Yasser Arafat, it is the leader of the Labor Party, Defense Minister Ben Eliezer, that says that Arafat is history."
" Instead, Arafat merely paid lip service to his Oslo commitments, the commitments to fight terrorism; and, since 1993, he halfheartedly has gone through the motions of clamping down on terrorism from time to time under intense international pressure. He has arrested the usual suspects, only to turn them loose again. This kind of revolving door policy has greatly undermined Israeli trust as an ostensible partner for peace and raised serious doubts about Arafat's long-term intentions.
Rather than prepare his people for peace, it is clear that he has been indoctrinating them for war. He has praised suicide bombers as martyrs and repeatedly has called for a Jihad to liberate Jerusalem. Arafat, the veteran terrorist, has created an atmosphere in which terrorism flourishes. The Palestinian Authority continues to educate Palestinian children to hate Israelis. As a conservative, I believe that ideas have consequences."
"In 1970, he led a Palestinian uprising against King Hussein in Jordan, despite his previous pledges to respect Jordanian sovereignty. When Arafat's forces were crushed by the Jordanian Army during Black September, he moved his base of operations to Lebanon. There, despite repeated promises that he would not become involved in Lebanese politics, he did just that and helped build—he built a state within a state in southern Lebanon and helped precipitate the Lebanese civil war of 1975 and 1976."
"Well, I think one reason there is a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings of Yasser Arafat is that we have failed to appreciate the degree to which he is, first and foremost, a revolutionary. You know, he is not into terrorism just for the sake of terrorism. There is a method to his madness. That method is to attain control over the Palestinian people and play a role within the broader Arab world. As other Arab states, including Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, have found out to their disappointment, Arafat was very quick to turn against them. Despite support—financial support they gave him, he went with Saddam Hussein and supported the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
He used his revolutionary tactics and terrorism not only to intimidate Palestinian moderates and outmaneuver traditional Palestinian leaders, but it is—this commitment to revolution is reflected in some of the slogans of the Palestinian movement, the revolution until victory.
I would argue that he cares more about revolution and his status within the Palestinian's revolution than he does about the Palestinian people which he cynically uses to push forward his own revolutionary role within the Palestinian politics and within the broader Arab world."
"I would argue that he was interested in a peace process but not in a genuine peace. Because in a peace process he was able to reenter the territories and build up his infrastructure on the West Bank and Gaza, but he knew that if he actually signed a final peace agreement with Israel that would undermine him within the revolutionary camp and lead to problems down the line for him.
I don't think that he was willing—in order for the Oslo process to work, I think there had to be a Palestinian civil war in which pragmatic Palestinians defeated revolutionaries. Unfortunately, I don't think that Arafat was ever going to do that.
I mean, I would like to say that the Irish situation, where you had more pragmatic Irish revolutionaries restrain the ultraradical who were interested in northern Ireland as well as southern Ireland, there couldn't be peace in southern Ireland until the ultraradicals were overthrown. That didn't happen in the Palestinian revolutionary camp.
I would say that Arafat should be understood as the leader of a gang in which he doesn't care as much about what happens to his own people as long as the gang stays in power, and I think the failure to understand that has led to much wishful thinking."
Here is somthing reminicent of abu mazen
"If you will allow me to give one example of this in terms of the restructuring of the security, Yasser Arafat announced his restructuring plans before George Tenet arrived to see him and he put in place to head this restructured security apparatus General Yickya. He is a very fine gentleman. I know him well, and I have negotiated with him. But he is not in a position to exercise control over the security forces or revamp them. He is totally dependent of Yasser Arafat, which is the way that Yasser Arafat wants it to be. Basically, what the maneuvering that is going on here does is to ensure that Arafat retains all authority in his own hands. It is a kind of sham reform."
(This is from a congress hearing)
Some Middle East experts cntend that "Yasser Arafat was both unwilling to strike a final deal for peace and unable to sign the agreement that was proposed at Camp David. Many of these experts contend that Arafat cannot enter into such an agreement because he lacks credibility with the Arab world, has little standing with the Islamists, and has no legitimacy with the Palestinian people."
However this is only part of the truth the truth is that arafat is as credible as anyone else. infact NO ONE on their side has the credibility to make these negotiations.
So the leader must be more than jsut an ordinary leader they must be one willing to sacrifice their own security because to accept a deal would be to side with the "non revolutionaries" and that would be to risk assasination as a traitor. This happened on the israeli side and they arent nearly as extreme and organized as the extreemists on the palistinians side.
Hee is an interesting analysis of Arafat much of hte stuff further down is quite good I think.
Note how it doesnt say "arafat is evil" it goes into why he does what he does.
"In addition to that, I think it is fair to say over the past 9 years that one can conclude that Arafat was not prepared to give up what in his terms he would regard as the military option. That is the ability to use violence and indeed terrorism to try to extract greater political concessions from the Israelis.
One has to ask oneself why Yasser Arafat alone does not wear anything but a uniform. I think it is symbolic of the fact that he still believes that military option in his terms, since he doesn't have an army, is a useful option.
Beyond that, he is a tactician, not a strategist. I think Israelis mistake this and they see—many of them see in him a person who is determined to destroy the state of Israel. I think that if he had the opportunity, he would do it, but I think he is realistic enough to know that he can't.
But he is not a person who sets a strategic objective and moves toward it. He is much more the kind of a person who wakes up in the morning and tests which way the wind is blowing and adjusts his sails to that direction. He surfs on the back of the suffering of his people, but he does not seek to lead them to any particular safe harbor.
He is a survivor who builds his popularity on his ability to present himself as the struggler, as the man who stands steadfast against all odds, particularly against Israeli tanks. He prefers to present himself as a victim. He is the master of that tactic of the power of the weak in which he avoids all responsibility. The way he does this, Mr. Chairman, is to create a mythological world—and some of you may have experienced this—where he simply makes up things, a mythological world in which he, therefore, is not responsible for anything.
It is usually the Mossad's fault. His first response when he was presented with the evidence of this shipment of arms from Iran was that it was a Mossad plot. When I went to see him after the June bombing 1 year ago, almost 1 year ago today, outside the discotheque in Tel Aviv which killed 21 Israeli teenagers, he told me in great detail how it was a Mossad plot to put him in the corner and make life difficult for him. In this way, they say he manages to escape responsibility for anything to do with living up to his commitments."
"It is not just Prime Minister Sharon who says he won't deal with Yasser Arafat, it is the leader of the Labor Party, Defense Minister Ben Eliezer, that says that Arafat is history."
" Instead, Arafat merely paid lip service to his Oslo commitments, the commitments to fight terrorism; and, since 1993, he halfheartedly has gone through the motions of clamping down on terrorism from time to time under intense international pressure. He has arrested the usual suspects, only to turn them loose again. This kind of revolving door policy has greatly undermined Israeli trust as an ostensible partner for peace and raised serious doubts about Arafat's long-term intentions.
Rather than prepare his people for peace, it is clear that he has been indoctrinating them for war. He has praised suicide bombers as martyrs and repeatedly has called for a Jihad to liberate Jerusalem. Arafat, the veteran terrorist, has created an atmosphere in which terrorism flourishes. The Palestinian Authority continues to educate Palestinian children to hate Israelis. As a conservative, I believe that ideas have consequences."
"In 1970, he led a Palestinian uprising against King Hussein in Jordan, despite his previous pledges to respect Jordanian sovereignty. When Arafat's forces were crushed by the Jordanian Army during Black September, he moved his base of operations to Lebanon. There, despite repeated promises that he would not become involved in Lebanese politics, he did just that and helped build—he built a state within a state in southern Lebanon and helped precipitate the Lebanese civil war of 1975 and 1976."
"Well, I think one reason there is a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings of Yasser Arafat is that we have failed to appreciate the degree to which he is, first and foremost, a revolutionary. You know, he is not into terrorism just for the sake of terrorism. There is a method to his madness. That method is to attain control over the Palestinian people and play a role within the broader Arab world. As other Arab states, including Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, have found out to their disappointment, Arafat was very quick to turn against them. Despite support—financial support they gave him, he went with Saddam Hussein and supported the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
He used his revolutionary tactics and terrorism not only to intimidate Palestinian moderates and outmaneuver traditional Palestinian leaders, but it is—this commitment to revolution is reflected in some of the slogans of the Palestinian movement, the revolution until victory.
I would argue that he cares more about revolution and his status within the Palestinian's revolution than he does about the Palestinian people which he cynically uses to push forward his own revolutionary role within the Palestinian politics and within the broader Arab world."
"I would argue that he was interested in a peace process but not in a genuine peace. Because in a peace process he was able to reenter the territories and build up his infrastructure on the West Bank and Gaza, but he knew that if he actually signed a final peace agreement with Israel that would undermine him within the revolutionary camp and lead to problems down the line for him.
I don't think that he was willing—in order for the Oslo process to work, I think there had to be a Palestinian civil war in which pragmatic Palestinians defeated revolutionaries. Unfortunately, I don't think that Arafat was ever going to do that.
I mean, I would like to say that the Irish situation, where you had more pragmatic Irish revolutionaries restrain the ultraradical who were interested in northern Ireland as well as southern Ireland, there couldn't be peace in southern Ireland until the ultraradicals were overthrown. That didn't happen in the Palestinian revolutionary camp.
I would say that Arafat should be understood as the leader of a gang in which he doesn't care as much about what happens to his own people as long as the gang stays in power, and I think the failure to understand that has led to much wishful thinking."
Here is somthing reminicent of abu mazen
"If you will allow me to give one example of this in terms of the restructuring of the security, Yasser Arafat announced his restructuring plans before George Tenet arrived to see him and he put in place to head this restructured security apparatus General Yickya. He is a very fine gentleman. I know him well, and I have negotiated with him. But he is not in a position to exercise control over the security forces or revamp them. He is totally dependent of Yasser Arafat, which is the way that Yasser Arafat wants it to be. Basically, what the maneuvering that is going on here does is to ensure that Arafat retains all authority in his own hands. It is a kind of sham reform."
(This is from a congress hearing)
What a shock! I thought you came up with all of this yourself!!!
I have heard that this is the main reason why abu mazen quit
"Leaflets distributed over the past 48 hours by Fatah activists strongly condemned Abbas and Dahlan as "CIA agents and Israeli collaborators." The leaflets urged Abbas to resign or face being punished and ostracized by his people.
A visibly shaken Abbas told some legislators after Thursday's stormy PLC session that he had had enough and was considering resigning....
"The events of the past few days left a scar on Abu Mazen," said Kadoura Fares, a legislator and top Fatah activist who acted as a mediator between Arafat and Abbas in recent weeks. "Abu Mazen is not built to take such a thing." "
I also hear that he is planning on fleeing the area least fatah(arafat) or someone similar has him killed.
that seems to me to fit in reasonably well with the above assesment and less well with the opposite assesment
"Leaflets distributed over the past 48 hours by Fatah activists strongly condemned Abbas and Dahlan as "CIA agents and Israeli collaborators." The leaflets urged Abbas to resign or face being punished and ostracized by his people.
A visibly shaken Abbas told some legislators after Thursday's stormy PLC session that he had had enough and was considering resigning....
"The events of the past few days left a scar on Abu Mazen," said Kadoura Fares, a legislator and top Fatah activist who acted as a mediator between Arafat and Abbas in recent weeks. "Abu Mazen is not built to take such a thing." "
I also hear that he is planning on fleeing the area least fatah(arafat) or someone similar has him killed.
that seems to me to fit in reasonably well with the above assesment and less well with the opposite assesment
Sorry, lad. Meant to get back to you re above last night, but things kept getting in the way, one of which was sleep!
Where did you come up with the above spiel on Arafat? I mean, like, did someone actually publish same, or, if not, who was the author behind it?
Also when were the leaflets and all this alleged intrique occurring re Abbas? Are you saying this happened now, as in the past few days, or are you saying it occurred in the weeks ago when he resigned?
He had read from a prepared text that everyone was part of the reason for his resignation - Israel for not doing more re the peace plan, the US for not ensuring Israel did more, and his own hardliiners.
Clarification, Scottie, clarification!
Where did you come up with the above spiel on Arafat? I mean, like, did someone actually publish same, or, if not, who was the author behind it?
Also when were the leaflets and all this alleged intrique occurring re Abbas? Are you saying this happened now, as in the past few days, or are you saying it occurred in the weeks ago when he resigned?
He had read from a prepared text that everyone was part of the reason for his resignation - Israel for not doing more re the peace plan, the US for not ensuring Israel did more, and his own hardliiners.
Clarification, Scottie, clarification!
Sorry I cant find the origional source but here is another report on the same thing
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101030929-488807,00.html
If you dont notice the above link is to TIME magazine.
This one focuses on the direct death threat.
"He felt that Abu Mazen was going to take his crown," says a senior Arafat aide. Arafat exploited Palestinian anger at Israeli military operations in the occupied territories to cast Abbas as a tool of Israel. For Abbas, the final straw came in early September when Fatah militants confronted him as he entered the offices of the Palestinian Legislative Council and accused him of treason. A shaken Abbas resigned the next day. An aide says he plans to go abroad as soon as a new government is formed. "Arafat's morale is high," says a top Palestinian official
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101030929-488807,00.html
If you dont notice the above link is to TIME magazine.
This one focuses on the direct death threat.
"He felt that Abu Mazen was going to take his crown," says a senior Arafat aide. Arafat exploited Palestinian anger at Israeli military operations in the occupied territories to cast Abbas as a tool of Israel. For Abbas, the final straw came in early September when Fatah militants confronted him as he entered the offices of the Palestinian Legislative Council and accused him of treason. A shaken Abbas resigned the next day. An aide says he plans to go abroad as soon as a new government is formed. "Arafat's morale is high," says a top Palestinian official
After you have had your life threatened by terrorists you have to be a pretty brave man to do anything other than shut up and run.
the time link (and text I posted) should explain your questions.
This is in the story part of time not the editorial part by the way.
" — With reporting by Jamil Hamad/Ramallah From the Sep. 29, 2003 issue of TIME magazine"
the time link (and text I posted) should explain your questions.
This is in the story part of time not the editorial part by the way.
" — With reporting by Jamil Hamad/Ramallah From the Sep. 29, 2003 issue of TIME magazine"
Im waiting for the rest of indymedia to apologise for defending arafat and to seriously rethink if a man like that would negotiate with good faith in peace negotiations.
From where I sit you had better pack a lunch (hehehe).
Or take special leave from your job/career etc. Because Gwynne (hey, wait 'til I finish before attacking the chap) and I both agree that the only thing Arafat has ever wanted was a Palestinian State for his people. I think even his worst enemy would give him that much. (See "The Strategy of Suicide Bombs" (6 January 03).
Now, of course, the above response is purely my own.
It has nothing to do with SF Indymedia, but you know me, Scottie. I cannot let one of your comments go unanswered. Everyone else, I am sure, will reply or not. It matters nil to me. Apparently it matters to you.
Or take special leave from your job/career etc. Because Gwynne (hey, wait 'til I finish before attacking the chap) and I both agree that the only thing Arafat has ever wanted was a Palestinian State for his people. I think even his worst enemy would give him that much. (See "The Strategy of Suicide Bombs" (6 January 03).
Now, of course, the above response is purely my own.
It has nothing to do with SF Indymedia, but you know me, Scottie. I cannot let one of your comments go unanswered. Everyone else, I am sure, will reply or not. It matters nil to me. Apparently it matters to you.
Arafat also wants money (otherwise he might donate a few hundred million to his poor people)
He wants power (otherwise he might give them some democracy)
etc etc.
If you wnat to dispute any of my posts point out where we have a disagreement.. I personally thing the above analysis of arafat are quite accurate.
If it is impossible to point them out them most likely the conclusions that come naturally from those posts are correct.
Anyway arafat was offered a state and he turned it down (forget about why for hte moment) so he must want somthing other than a state.
Now as to why.. for example he wants right of return. but as the posts I have shown you indicate he also wants "to be the leader of the revolution" in and of itself. There are two things that he wants besides just "a state" (amongst many others).
He wants power (otherwise he might give them some democracy)
etc etc.
If you wnat to dispute any of my posts point out where we have a disagreement.. I personally thing the above analysis of arafat are quite accurate.
If it is impossible to point them out them most likely the conclusions that come naturally from those posts are correct.
Anyway arafat was offered a state and he turned it down (forget about why for hte moment) so he must want somthing other than a state.
Now as to why.. for example he wants right of return. but as the posts I have shown you indicate he also wants "to be the leader of the revolution" in and of itself. There are two things that he wants besides just "a state" (amongst many others).
It is not polite to keep harping on someone's wealth or lack thereof. Or at least leave it until I come back to the board later on.
We could ask the same question about other "rich" leaders, and we could also ask (and we will, lad, we will) where their finances come from. Like, for instance, why not start with the Bush enormous wealth, hmm? Don't see him giving any of it away to the homeless, do you?
What about Peres? Who paid for his spectacular birthday bash at 80 there a few weeks ago? The state of Israel? Himself? It's all relative, lad. It's all relative. Those who have it, sadly, like to keep it. Those who have none continue to give it away when they get it, and never have none still.
We could ask the same question about other "rich" leaders, and we could also ask (and we will, lad, we will) where their finances come from. Like, for instance, why not start with the Bush enormous wealth, hmm? Don't see him giving any of it away to the homeless, do you?
What about Peres? Who paid for his spectacular birthday bash at 80 there a few weeks ago? The state of Israel? Himself? It's all relative, lad. It's all relative. Those who have it, sadly, like to keep it. Those who have none continue to give it away when they get it, and never have none still.
I have no idea how rich bush is but i am willing to bet that arafat could buy all his assets many times over. Not only that but i bet bush was rich BEFORE he became president. And the poorest person in the USA is richer than the poorest person in palestine.
And who was claiming that bushes only motivation is USA statehood? He probably likes money as much as the next person. (and the president of the USA needs to get paid quite a bit to pay for all the stress) all the more reason to have the normal controls on people to prevent them stealing money from the state.. hmm except those controls apparently dont exist in palestine .. oh well.
Anyway summary is that you need a better analogy.
by the way has anyone noticed that the text at the bottom when posting spells will with only one l?
"For text articles, URLs wil be converted to clickable links. "
And who was claiming that bushes only motivation is USA statehood? He probably likes money as much as the next person. (and the president of the USA needs to get paid quite a bit to pay for all the stress) all the more reason to have the normal controls on people to prevent them stealing money from the state.. hmm except those controls apparently dont exist in palestine .. oh well.
Anyway summary is that you need a better analogy.
by the way has anyone noticed that the text at the bottom when posting spells will with only one l?
"For text articles, URLs wil be converted to clickable links. "
No Choice at Deir Yassin - 108k
my movie is missing - my mistake - delete previous post and this request, please editor.
tnks & sorry for mess
tnks & sorry for mess
Leave it to Scottie! Doesn't miss a thing, the lad doesn't. What observance! Talk about paying attention! Go to the head of your class, lad!
Isnt it funny how you can take someone to the cleaners in terms of a debate or a logical argument here and yet they appear to be totally oblivious to it in future posts.
Oh well at least sf.indymedias archives serve as a pretty interesting archive for anyone who wants to deal with a dubious aligation.
Oh well at least sf.indymedias archives serve as a pretty interesting archive for anyone who wants to deal with a dubious aligation.
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