In Arabic, Fatah Says 'Armed Struggle' Still in Effect

Here's how the traditional Palestinian con game works--talk peace in English and terrorism in Arabic. This way, journalists can write breathless stories of impending peace, which brings pressure on Israel for strategic concessions. At the same time, Arabs are told the real plan--jihad.

For example, when the Oslo peace process was announced, Arafat immediately spoke in Arabic explaining that the whole thing was a fraud.

Today, "moderate" Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced in Arabic that resisting Israeli occupation, a euphemism for terrorism, is still Fatah policy, depite thousands of news articles hyping the significance of the omission of the phrase in a recent Fatah document:

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has said Palestinians have a legitimate right to resist Israeli occupation, even if the phrase does not appear in his new government program.

?We are certainly an occupied people and resistance is a legitimate right for the Palestinian people as an occupied people,? Fayyad told reporters in Cairo, where he is leading the Palestinian delegation to an Arab League meeting on Monday.

Palestinian officials confirmed on Friday that the platform of the new government omits the phrases ?armed struggle? and ?resistance? against Israeli occupation.

This was a change from the platforms of the previous two Palestinian governments led by the Islamist movement Hamas, which has rebuffed US and European demands that it recognize Israel and renounce violence.