THE PALESTINIANS IN THEIR OWN WORDS (Palestinian Quote Sheet #51) 18 September 2005 On the desecration of synagogues in Gaza: "We are Muslims and our religion and traditions don't allow us to desecrate or destroy places of worship." --- Under-Secretary of the PA Foreign Ministry Abdullah Abudllah. (Al-Jazeerah.info and the Palestine Media Center, 7 September 2005, before the destruction took place.) "There are no synagogues here." --- Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the Palestinian Authority. (The Jerusalem Post, 12 September 2005.) "We won't allow any Wailing Walls [that the Jews might return to] on our blessed land." --- Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas official in Gaza. (The Jerusalem Post, 12 September 2005.) "The people have the right to do what they are doing." --- A Palestinian police officer who watched crowds set fire to the Netzarim synagogue. (Ha'artz, 13 September, 2005.) "These last 48 hours [during which the desecrations began] were a test and I think we passed." --- Palestinian cabinet minister Ghassan al-Khatib. (Reuters, 13 September, 2005.) On Peace with Israel After the Disengagement: "We will continue our martyrdom operations [terrorist attacks] inside Israel until all our lands are liberated, by God's will." --- Muhamemd Hijazi, commander of one of the Fatah- affiliated militias in Gaza. Fatah is the PLO faction under the control of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. (The Jerusalem Post, 12 September, 2005.) This is the 51st in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security). E-mail address: info@iris.org.il Web site: http://www.iris.org.il To see other quote sheets in the series dating back to 1993 please visit http://www.iris.org.il/quotes.htm . ------------------------------------------------------------ To subscribe/unsubscribe to/from this list visit: http://www.iris.org.il/maillist/ THE PALESTINIANS IN THEIR OWN WORDS (Palestinian Quote Sheet #50) 16 October 2000 On 13 October 2000, the official Palestinian Authority television station broadcast live a Friday sermon in the Zayed bin Sultan Aal Nahyan mosque in Gaza. Below are excerpts from the sermon, as transcribed by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), . The speaker is Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, Member of the Palestinian Authority-appointed "Fatwa Council" and former acting Rector of the Islamic University in Gaza. On killing Jews and Americans: "O brother believers, the criminals, the terrorists - are the Jews, who have butchered our children, orphaned them, widowed our women and desecrated our holy places and sacred sites. They are the terrorists. They are the ones who must be butchered and killed, as Allah the Almighty said: 'Fight them: Allah will torture them at your hands, and will humiliate them and will help you to overcome them, and will relieve the minds of the believers..." "Have no mercy on the Jews, no matter where they are, in any country. Fight them, wherever you are. Wherever you meet them, kill them. Wherever you are, kill those Jews and those Americans who are like them - and those who stand by them - they are all in one trench, against the Arabs and the Muslims because they established Israel here, in the beating heart of the Arab world, in Palestine. They created it to be the outpost of their civilization and the vanguard of their army, and to be the sword of the West and the crusaders, hanging over the necks of the monotheists, the Muslims in these lands. They wanted the Jews to be their spearhead..." On making peace with Israel: "Even if an agreement of Gaza is signed - we shall not forget Haifa, and Acre, and the Galilee, and Jaffa, and the Triangle and the Negev, and the rest of our cities and villages. It is only a matter of time. The weak will not remain forever weak, and the strong will not remain forever strong... If we are weak today... and we are not able to regain our rights, then at least we have to pass on the banner - waving high - to our children and grandchildren..." "...We will not give up a single grain of soil of Palestine, from Haifa, and Jaffa, and Acre, and Mulabbas [Petah Tikva] and Salamah, and Majdal [Ashkelon], and all the land, and Gaza, and the West Bank..." "...Let us put our trust in Allah, close ranks, and unite our words, and the slogan of us all should be, 'Jihad! Jihad! For the sake of Palestine, and for the sake of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa!'" On divine rewards for warfare: "O brothers in belief, the beautiful bride has a costly price and dowry... Our bride is paradise, O brothers in belief... The cost and the dowry of this bride, the dowry of this paradise, is that we fight in the path of Allah, and kill and be killed." "Allah has purchased from the believers their persons and their property in return for the promise that they shall have paradise, for they fight in the cause of Allah, and they slay the enemy and are slain." ================================= This is the fiftieth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) E-mail address: Web site: To subscribe to the IRIS mailing list, send a message to listproc@shamash.org with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris your_name substituting your real name for your_name. To unsubscribe, send an email to listproc@shamash.org with no subject and the text: unsubscribe iris THE PALESTINIANS IN THEIR OWN WORDS (Palestinian Quote Sheet #49) On peace, war and armed struggle against Israel: "The failed attempt to achieve peace made us realize that the only way to solve the Palestinian problem in a just and comprehensive manner is to implement the PLO's covenant... meaning a return to the armed struggle, which is the only language the Israelis understand.... "The Fatah movement will not allow the continuation of a situation which is neither war nor peace, imposed on the region by the Israeli and American governments.... The Palestinian people are ready for war. As much as they are experienced in peace, the Palestinian people are experienced in war, where they have yet to fail." --- Ruhi Fatuh, Secretary General of the Palestinian Legislative Council and member of the Revolutionary Council of Fatah, Yasser Arafat's mainstream faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Fatuh said the return to armed struggle should take place if a Palestinian state is not established by 5 May 1999, when the Israel-PLO accords expire. (Al-Ayyam, 12 June 1998. Translation courtesy of Middle East Media and Research Institute - MEMRI, ) "We will turn the territories of the [Palestinian] Autonomy into [the Israelis'] graveyard. This will be the beginning of the end and a regression to a state of overall explosion, for which Israel will be held responsible, as it is responsible for the failure of the peace process today." --- Chief Palestinian negotiator Sa'eb Ariqat, saying that if the Israelis try to re-enter areas under the Palestinian Authority they would not get out alive. (Al-Manar, 8 June 1998. Translation courtesy of MEMRI.) "Defining the situation with Israel today as peace is a mistake. There is no peace with Israel, which is an imperialistic state by nature.... Rather, it is a truce, mainly because Israel wants to dominate the region and shuns peace with its neighbors. Such was revealed when the idea of a Middle East [economic] market was raised [by Israel]." --- Senior advisor to the PLO Executive Committee Jamal Al-Sorani. (Al-Bayader Al-Siasi, 13 June 1998. Translation courtesy of MEMRI.) On the Palestinian Covenant: "...The [Palestinian] National Council did not vote to annul the [Palestinian] Covenant, but rather announced its readiness to change the Covenant under certain terms. If the terms are met, it will be amended. Otherwise, the Covenant will remain as is. The Covenant has yet to be changed, and this is better understood by the enemy than by our own people...." --- Secretary General of the Arab Liberation Front Mahmoud 'Abbas, otherwise known as Abu 'Abbas. The Israel-PLO Accords of 1993 required the Palestinian National Council to amend the Covenant, which calls for Israel's destruction, with no further conditions attached. (Al-Bilad, 11 June 1998. Translation courtesy of MEMRI.) On Jewish rights to the Western Wall in Jerusalem: "The Al-Buraq [Wailing] Wall is part of the Al-Aqsa [Mosque]. I tell this to foreign reporters who refer to the Al-Buraq Wall as Jewish [property] because Jews call it the 'Wailing Wall'. We stress that the Al-Buraq Wall belongs to the Muslims alone. This is not my personal view, but rather, that of Islam." --- From the Friday sermon at Al-Aqsa mosque by Sheik Iqrima Sabri, the Palestinian Authority-appointed Mufti of Palestine and Jerusalem. The Wailing or Western Wall, a retaining wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, dates to Herodian times, several centuries before the advent of Islam and the construction of Al-Aqsa Mosque on the mount. (Voice of Palestine radio, 12 June 1998. Translation courtesy of MEMRI.) ==== This is the forty-ninth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) E-mail address: Web site: or To subscribe to the IRIS mailing list, send a message to with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . THE PALESTINIANS IN THEIR OWN WORDS (Palestinian Quote Sheet #48) The following recent quotations from leading figures in the Palestinian Authority were distributed by the Israel Government Press Office. 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) Israel's "racist Zionist colonialist" plot: "The Palestinian people were and remain a victim of the international colonialist Zionist plot which began with the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Israel has not halted its implementation of the racist Zionist colonialist policies which are responsible for the calamities that have befallen our people." --- From an official statement by the Palestinian Legislative Council on 12 May 1998 to mark fifty years since "the 1948 calamity" -- that is, the establishment of Israel. (Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, 13 May 1998) Holy war and the military option: "Whomever has occupied part of Palestine or Jerusalem faces jihad [holy war] until Judgment Day. Our destiny is jihad." --- Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, in the weekly Friday prayer sermon at Jerusalem's Al-Aksa Mosque, broadcast on the official PA radio station. (Voice of Palestine, 15 May 1998) "Our choice is the military option. We must put an end to the despicable negotiations. The time has come for jihad [holy war] and martyrdom." --- Shiekh Hamed Bitawi, chairman of the Palestine Religious Scholars Association and head of the PA's Sharia Court of Appeals in Nablus. (Al-Jazira Television, 14 May 1998) "Peace is a strategic choice, but it is not a sacred choice if the occupation and the Judaization continue." --- Announcer on the official PA radio station (Voice of Palestine, 15 May 1998) ==== This is the forty-eighth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) E-mail address: Web site: or To subscribe to the IRIS mailing list, send a message to with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . THE PALESTINIANS IN THEIR OWN WORDS (Palestinian Quote Sheet #47) On the PLO's military option: "All options are open to the Palestinian people.... The Fatah movement did not and will not forfeit the military option, until all national lands are liberated, and the Palestinian independent state is established with Jerusalem as its capital." --- 'Abbas Zaki, member of the Fatah Central Committee, in a speech in the Hebron region. Fatah is Yasser Arafat's mainstream faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization. (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, 23 April 1998. Translation courtesy of Middle East Media and Research Institute - MEMRI, ) "If [Palestinians] do not regain their full rights and an independent state, we will not let any one in the region live in peace and security." --- Nabil Abu Rdainah, aide to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. (Al-Ahram, 12 May 1998, via Reuters) "We must always be prepared to sacrifice our blood, as in the beginning - January '65 - as we continued, and as we will continue [to sacrifice]. Fatah is a movement of blood sacrifice.... Our people gave the world a chance, and unless the world takes this opportunity, violence and havoc will come." --- 'Othman Abu 'Gharbiya, Deputy Chief of the National and Political Guidance Bureau of the Fatah movement, speaking to Fatah members. (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, 9 May 1998. Translation courtesy of MEMRI.) "The future is full of options... The Palestinian people expect a long and bloody phase of an overall struggle, in order to fulfill what has been agreed upon in Oslo. Israel is a state that cannot make peace, a state whose function is war." --- Palestinian Authority Cabinet Secretary Ahmad Abd Al-Rahman (Al-Ayyam, 4 May 1998. Translation courtesy of MEMRI.) On the function of Israeli redeployments: "[The planned third phase of Israeli troop redeployment in the West Bank is] a matter of principle that would enable the [Palestinian] Authority to accumulate liberated lands... which would allow it to double its ability to confront [Israel] without harming the signed agreements or holding [renewed] negotiations over matters already agreed upon." --- Statement in Our Position, the official biweekly of the Fatah movement. (Al-Ayyam, 1 May 1998. Translation couresy of MEMRI.) ==== This is the forty-seventh in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) E-mail address: Web site: or To subscribe to the IRIS mailing list, send a message to with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . THE PALESTINIANS IN THEIR OWN WORDS (Palestinian Quote Sheet #46) Calls to war: "Gather together, O fighters of Karameh, Litani and Beirut, raise your voices aloud: we shall die, we shall die, so that Palestine shall live. Our blood is your atonement, O Jerusalem, and our souls are your defenders, O Palestine. We swear unto the holy martyrs: until victory!" --- statement issued by the student branch of Fatah, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's faction of the PLO, in Nablus to commemorate Land Day. Karameh, Litani and Beirut were the sites of major battles between terrorists of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israeli forces. (Al-Ayyam, 29 March 1998) "We are ready for a military confrontation The bullets of the Black Panthers will strike at Netanyahu's soldiers." --- from a statement issued by Fatah in Jenin announcing the reestablishment of the Black Panther military units (Al-Hayat Al-Jedida, 26 March 1998) Threats of violence: "If the situation continues without American intervention and without their requiring Israel to respect international law, then the Palestinian explosion is on the way, without a shadow of a doubt." --- PA Minister of Post and Communications Imad Falouji (Middle East News Agency, 19 March 1998) "Ahead of us lies an entire year - either we will establish an independent state in May or there will be many other options, among them a popular intifada." --- Palestinian Legislative Council Member Abbas Zaki (Al-Arab Al-Yom, 16 March 1998) "A vast wave of violence may break out in occupied western Jerusalem as long as the occupation authorities continue to adopt measures against Jerusalem residents." --- Palestinian Legislative Council member Hatam Abdel Khader (Voice of Palestine, 29 March 1998) ==== This is the forty-sixth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) E-mail address: Web site: or To subscribe to the IRIS mailing list, send a message to with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . THE PALESTINIANS IN THEIR OWN WORDS (Palestinian Quote Sheet #45) Praise for Hamas: Q: Is it possible that the Palestinians will return to the armed struggle? Arafat: Anything is possible. Q: Including the armed struggle? Arafat: It is not possible to foresee what will happen to the entire region, not just in Palestine. The entire region is in danger and on the verge of complete chaos, as a result of violations of the peace agreement by Israel. 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 scores of Israeli civilians have been killed. (Novoya Vremya, 25 May 1997) "The presence of Hamas on Palestinian territory is very important for building the Palestinian homeland." --- Muhammad Dahlan, head of Arafat's Preventive Security Service in Gaza, in an interview with the Hamas newspaper Al-Risallah (cited in Ha'aretz, 15 June 1997) Slander against Israel: "Israel is distributing food containing cancer-causing material and hormones that harm male virility and other spoiled food products in the Palestinian Authority's territories, in order to poison and harm the Palestinian population. We absolutely feel it is an organized plot and conspiracy under the auspices of the Israel Defense Forces -- this is a planned and initiated war against the Palestinian people." --- PA Deputy Minister of Supplies Abdel Hamid al-Qudsi in a newspaper interview (Yediot Aharonot, 25 June 1997) Threats of violence: "There is a plan which was prepared by the Palestinian leadership with the aim of confronting Israel's intransigence. The Palestinian people is ready for a confrontation and is prepared to make additional sacrifices -- the people are in a state of preparedness." --- Abbas Zaki, a Palestinian Authority legislator and member of the central committee of Fatah, Arafat's mainstream faction of the PLO. (Al-Sharq al-Awsat, 16 June 1997) "If a solution is not found to the situation and the political process is not returned to its course, there will be severe clashes between us and the Israelis. All options are open before us." --- Jibril Rajoub, Arafat's security chief for the West Bank, in a television interview (Middle East Broadcasting Corp., 20 June 1997) ==== This is the forty-fifth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) E-mail address: Web site: To subscribe to the IRIS mailing list, send a message to with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . THE PALESTINIANS IN THEIR OWN WORDS (Palestinian Quote Sheet #44) On death for land dealers: "Our law is a Jordanian law that we inherited, which applies to both the West Bank and Gaza, and sets the death penalty for those who sell land to Israelis.... We are talking about a few traitors, and we shall implement against them what is written in the law books. It is our right and our obligation to defend our land." --- Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat (Yediot Aharonot, 21 May 1997) "This is a very dangerous act and there has been a decision to ban it by putting anyone who sells even a centimeter on swift trial and to seek the death penalty against them.... These people are traitors and Israel exploits them in expanding its settlements." --- Palestinian Authority Justice Minister Freih Abu Middein (Agence France Presse, 5 May 1997) "Whoever is found to have sold land to Jews, his punishment is death. It is forbidden to pray for him, it is forbidden to purify his body before burial, and it is forbidden to bury him in a Muslim cemetery." --- Ikrama Sabri, Palestinian Authority mufti, Islamic religious leader, for Jerusalem (Yediot Aharonot, 20 May 1997) On Israel's right to exist: "Despite all the conspiracies, Jerusalem and Palestine from the River to the Sea will remain Islamic until judgment day...." --- Ikrama Sabri, Palestinian Authority mufti for Jerusalem, in his weekly sermon at the Temple Mount's Al-Aksa Mosque. Reference is to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, an area including all of the State of Israel. (Voice of Palestine Radio, 9 May 1997) "The Zionist entity exists on seized land. The Jews remain enemies because they expropriate lands, build settlements and pay high sums to buy properties. They are the greatest enemies of us Muslims." --- Ikrama Sabri, Palestinian Authority mufti for Jerusalem. "The Zionist entity" is a common euphemism used by those who do not recognize the legitimacy of the State of Israel. (The New York Times, 18 May 1997) ==== This is the forty-fourth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) E-mail address: Web site: To subscribe to the IRIS mailing list, send a message to with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . THE PALESTINIANS IN THEIR OWN WORDS (Palestinian Quote Sheet #43) On support for violence: "All options are open, including the armed struggle if necessary." --- Amin Maqbul, member of the Fatah Higher Council, at a Nablus rally. Fatah is Yasser Arafat's mainstream faction of the PLO. (Al-Quds, 20 March 1997) "The only option in this situation is to continue the uprising since this is the only language which Israel understands." --- Farouk Kaddumi, Head of the PLO Political Department (Al-Hayat, 2 April 1997) The Council congratulates "all the holy martyrs resulting from the noble wave of opposition to the Israeli Government's settlement activity." --- From a statement issued by the Palestinian Legislative Council on 27 March 1997, just 6 days after a suicide bombing in a Tel Aviv cafe which killed three Israelis (Ma'ariv, 28 March 1997) "I don't think that stones are violence. It is peaceful to throw stones." --- Marwan Barghouti, Secretary General of Fatah and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (The Jerusalem Post, March 26, 1997) ==== This is the forty-third in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) E-mail address: Web site: To subscribe to the IRIS mailing list, send a message to with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . THE PALESTINIANS IN THEIR OWN WORDS (Palestinian Quote Sheet #42) Echoes of classical anti-Semitism: "We are fighting and struggling with an enemy who is Shylock. We must know that he is Shylock." --- Othman Abu Gharbiya, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Adviser on National Political Guidance, in a radio interview (Voice of Palestine, 15 March 1997) "Israeli authorities... infected by injection 300 Palestinian children with the HIV virus during the years of the intifada." --- Palestinian U.N. representative Nabil Ramlawi at a session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva (Jerusalem Post, 17 March 1997) "We must not forget that the American administration suffers from a disease whose name is the Zionist lobby in Washington." --- PA Cabinet Secretary Ahmad Abdul Rahman in a radio interview (Voice of Palestine, 14 April 1997) "Five Zionist Jews are running the policy of the United States in the Middle East: Madeleine Albright, William Cohen, Dennis Ross, Miller and Martin Indyk. It is not possible that the American nation, which consists of 250 million people, can not find anyone other than five Zionist Jews to conduct the peace process with the Palestinians." --- PA Justice Minister Freih Abu Middein (Yediot Ahronot, 13 April 1997) ==== This is the forty-second in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) E-mail address: Web site: To subscribe to the IRIS mailing list, send a message to with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . THE PALESTINIANS IN THEIR OWN WORDS (Palestinian Quote Sheet #41) On violence over Jerusalem: "If Prime Minister Binyamin decides to build in Har Homa this will be a declaration of war on the Palestinians." --- Palestinian Authority Minister Faisal Husseini regarding Israel's decision to build a new Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem's Har Homa section. (Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahranot, 18 February 1997) "No doubt there will be an explosion." --- Palestinian Legislative Council speaker Abu Ala on the Arab response if Har Homa is built. (BBC World Service Radio, 17 February 1997, 2040 GMT) On negotiations over Jerusalem: "Not East nor West -- Jerusalem, the whole of Jerusalem." --- The areas of Jerusalem to be negotiated between Israel and the PLO, according to Palestinian Legislative Council speaker Abu Ala. (BBC World Service Radio, 17 February 1997, 2040 GMT) On violence over settlements: "From now on, resisting settlements will not be through words, condemnation or complaints to the U.N. Security Council." --- Palestinian Authority cabinet secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman, saying that the time is past for passive resistance to Israel's settlement policy. (The Washington Post, 10 March 1997) "First of all, the Palestinians do not have their backs to the wall. They are the ones who created an intifadah and who faced the Israelis when a tunnel was opened under the al-Aqsa Mosque. "Faced with these continuing acts of aggression against the land, the Palestinians have no option but to stand up and offer their blood and souls in defense of their land, which is being expropriated and on which settlements are being built." --- Palestinian Authority cabinet secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman (London-based MBC-TV, 15 February 1997) ==== This is the forty-first in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) E-mail address: Web site: To subscribe to the IRIS mailing list, send a message to with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . MORE OF YASSER ARAFAT IN HIS OWN WORDS (Palestinian Quote Sheet #40) "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.... We are at conflict with the Zionist movement...." --- Yasser Arafat, in a speech at the Dehaishe refugee camp near Bethlehem, 22 October 1996 (Yediot Aharonot, 23 October 1996) "Are there no stones left in Hebron? Where are the stones and where are the mobs? Prepare yourselves for a struggle if the Israelis do not retreat from Hebron." --- Yasser Arafat, addressing Arab legislators in Hebron, 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) "There is no doubt we must be prepared for all contingencies." --- Yasser Arafat, in a speech to the Palestinian legislative council in Ramallah, 10 October 1996 (The Jerusalem Post, 11 October 1996). The remark was widely interpreted as threatening future violence if his demands are not met. This is the fortieth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) E-mail address: iris@shamash.org Web site: http://www.netaxs.com/people/iris ==== To subscribe to the free IRIS mailing list, send a message to listproc@shamash.org with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . THE PALESTINIANS IN THEIR OWN WORDS (Palestinian Quote Sheet #39) The following statements by Palestinian leaders may be of interest; they date from between April 1995 and July 1996. ==== "If the negotiations reach a dead end, we shall go back to the struggle and strife, as we did for 40 years. It is not beyond our capabilities.... If and when Israel will say, `That's it, we won't talk about Jerusalem, we won't return refugees, we won't dismantle settlements, and we won't retreat from borders,' then all the acts of violence will return. Except that this time we'll have 30,000 armed Palestinian soldiers who will operate in areas in which we have unprecedented elements of freedom." --- Palestinian Authority Planning Minister Nabil Shaath, at a symposium shown on Palestinian television. (The Jerusalem Post, 15 March 1996) "Our forces will fight, of course. They have already received their orders." --- Marwan Bargouthi, explaining that Palestinian soldiers will shoot at Israeli soldiers should Israel reenter regions under the Palestinian Authority. Bargouthi is Secretary General of Fatah, Yasser Arafat's mainstream faction of the PLO. (The Independent, 12 March 1996) "We must remember that the main enemy of the Palestinian people, now and forever, is Israel. This is a truth that must never leave our minds." --- Palestinian Authority Justice Minister Freih Abu Middein, speaking at Al Azhar University in Gaza. (Al-Nahar, 11 April 1995; The Jerusalem Post, 17 April 1995) "Jerusalem is under occupation and the Moslems of the world should liberate it by jihad and put it under Islamic and Arabic authority. The jihad is not just a war jihad - we are talking about all means to get back Jerusalem." --- Sheikh Akram Sabri, the Palestinian Authority-appointed mufti (Muslim religious leader) of Jerusalem, in an interview with the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat. (Al-Sharq al-Awsat, 7 April 1995; The Jerusalem Post, 3 May 1995) "[Palestinians should] rise up with all their might against the occupation." --- Sheikh Akram Sabri in a sermon at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque. (The Jerusalem Post, 14 June 1996) "If the Israelis decide to throw the peace to the sea, we will send them to hell and the explosion this time will be more violent and more destructive. In comparison, the attacks in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Ashkelon will look like banal actions." --- Statement by youth group of Fatah, Arafat's faction of the PLO (Ha'aretz, 8 July 1996) ==== This is the thirty-ninth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) E-mail address: iris@shamash.org Web site: http://www.netaxs.com/people/iris To subscribe to the IRIS mailing list, send a message to listproc@shamash.org with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . YASSER ARAFAT IN HIS OWN WORDS (Palestinian Quote Sheet #38) In light of the speculation as to whether or not Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat approves of his police forces firing upon Israeli troops, IRIS would like to call the attention of its readers to the following remarks made by Arafat over the past year or so. "If Israel rejects our demands there will be a reaction and we have a 30,000 man armed force." --- Yasser Arafat (Quoted by Israel Radio reporter Yoni Ben Menachem, 7 June 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) "Without full Palestinian rights with a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital there won't be peace.... We can't rule out a return to the gun. If Israel can't meet its obligations the peace will be destroyed." --- Yasser Arafat's spokesman Nabil Aburodeina (Interview with Independent Media Review and Analysis, 17 April 1996) "The struggle will continue until all of Palestine is liberated." --- Yasser Arafat (Voice of Palestine Radio, 11 November 1995) This is the thirty-eighth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) E-mail address: iris@shamash.org Web site: http://www.netaxs.com/people/iris To subscribe to the IRIS mailing list, send a message to listproc@shamash.org with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . The PLO in its own words: (quote sheet #37) On resumption of terrorism: "If the negotiations reach a dead end, we shall go back to the struggle and strife, as we did for 40 years. It is not beyond our capabilities.... If and when Israel will say, `That's it, we won't talk about Jerusalem, we won't return refugees, we won't dismantle settlements, and we won't retreat from borders,' then all the acts of violence will return. Except that this time we'll have 30,000 armed Palestinian soldiers who will operate in areas in which we have unprecedented elements of freedom." --- Nabil Shaath, planning minister and leading negotiator for the Palestinian Authority, speaking at a symposium shown on Palestinian television. (The Jerusalem Post, 15 March 1996) On cooperation with Israel: "If I have information about terror activity in Area B, I won't give it to the Israelis." --- Jibril Rajoub, head of Palestinian secret police for the West Bank. Israel is responsible for security in "Area B." (Yediot Ahronot, 12 April 1996) "Our forces will fight, of course. They have already received their orders." --- Marwan Bargouthi, explaining that Palestinian soldiers will shoot at Israeli soldiers should Israel reenter regions under the Palestinian Authority. Bargouthi is Secretary General of Fatah, Yasser Arafat's mainstream faction of the PLO. (The Independent, 12 March 1996) This is the thirty-seventh in a series of quote sheets prepared by: IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS Internet address: iris@shamash.org IRIS Web site: http://www.netaxs.com/people/iris To subscribe to IRIS, send a message to: listproc@shamash.org with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . The PLO in its own words: (quote sheet #36) 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) "Jenin is the first nail in Israel's coffin. We will agree to leave here only the dead Jews who are buried here. Like all Palestinians, I am happy that Arafat is here today in a liberated Palestinian city. With the help of Allah, all the land of Palestine will be liberated. The Jews must return to where they came from, to their diaspora.... Abu Ammar [Yasser Arafat] visited us and spoke with us...Abu Ammar also thinks as I do. In the long run - he will get all of Palestine. He will not give up on one inch of Palestinian land...I don't want to continue living in Gaza or Jenin. My place is in Palestinian Beersheba." --- Suleiman Adwan, a PLO policeman and member of the "Al Quds" Brigade, which is stationed in Jenin (Davar Rishon, 20 November 1995, page 2) On the liberation of Palestine: "The struggle will continue until all of Palestine is liberated." --- PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat (Voice of Palestine, 11 November 1995) On Changing the PLO Covenant, which calls for the destruction of Israel: "We have no intention of changing or nullifying the Covenant, rather, we will adhere to it until our last breath since it embodies the essence of our demands." --- Tayseer Qaba, deputy chairman of the PLO's Palestine National Council (A-Nahar, 19 September 1995, page 16) This is the thirty-sixth in a series of quote sheets prepared by: IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org More of Yasser Arafat in his own words PLO Quote Sheet #35 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 clelebrate 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) This is the thirty-fifth in a series of quote sheets prepared by: IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org To subscribe to IRIS, send a message to: listproc@shamash.org with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . YASSER ARAFAT IN HIS OWN WORDS (P.L.O. Quote Sheet #34) 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: "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." --- P.L.O. Chairman 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) This is the thirty-fourth in a series of quote sheets prepared by: IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org To subscribe to IRIS, send a message to: listproc@shamash.org with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . The P.L.O. in its own words: (Quote Sheet #33) On renewing the intifada: "There will be an intifada not just in Jerusalem, but in all the occupied territories and in all the Middle East." --- Feisal Husseini, Minister for Jerusalem Affairs in the P.L.O.'s Palestinian Authority (Voice of Israel, 21 May 1995; Haaretz, 22 May 1995) On Israel: "I say once more that Israel shall remain the principal enemy of the Palestinian people, not only now but also in the future." --- Freih Abu Middein, Minister of Justice in the P.L.O.'s Palestinian Authority, in a speech read in the name of P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat at the Shawa Cultural Center in Gaza City (Voice of Palestine, 12 May 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 support for terrorist attacks against Israel: "People feel that the militants are right because Israel has not honored the accords." --- Feisal Husseini, Minister for Jerusalem Affairs in the P.L.O.'s Palestinian Authority, speaking to reporters in Saudi Arabia (The Jerusalem Post, 16 April 1995) This is the thirty-third in a series of quote sheets prepared by: IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org IRIS web site: http://www.netaxs.com/~iris To subscribe to IRIS, send a message to: listproc@shamash.org with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . The P.L.O. in its own words: (Quote Sheet #32) On Jerusalem: "Israel must withdraw from Jerusalem so that it becomes the capital of a state of Palestine." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O., at a meeting of Arab League Foreign Ministers (Agence France Presse, 6 May 1995) On Israel as the enemy: "We must remember that the main enemy of the Palestinian people, now and forever, is Israel. This is a truth that must never leave our minds." --- Freih Abu Middein, Minister of Justice in the P.L.O.'s Palestinian Authority, in a speech at Al Azhar University in Gaza (Al-Nahar, 11 April 1995; The Jerusalem Post, 17 April 1995) On waging a holy war against Israel: "Jerusalem is under occupation and the Moslems of the world should liberate it by jihad and put it under Islamic and Arabic authority. The jihad is not just a war jihad - we are talking about all means to get back Jerusalem." --- Sheikh Ikrameh Sabri, the P.L.O. Mufti of Jerusalem, in an interview with the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat (Al-Sharq al-Awsat, 7 April 1995; The Jerusalem Post, 3 May 1995) On the armed struggle: "If Israel continues to undermine the path to peace there will be no other alternative but that called for by the Islamist Palestinian opposition - the military option." --- Feisal Husseini, Minister for Jerusalem Affairs in the P.L.O.'s Palestinian Authority, in an interview with the Egyptian weekly Al-Arabi (Agence France Presse, 1 May 1995) This is the thirty-second in a series of quote sheets prepared by: IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org To subscribe to IRIS, send a message to: listproc@shamash.org with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . The P.L.O. in its own words: (quote sheet #31) On Israel: "We as Palestinians must understand that the central enemy is Israel." --- Farouk Qaddumi, head of the P.L.O.'s Political Department (Ha'aretz, 16 December 1994) On waging holy war: "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 preventing terrorist attacks against Israelis: "It is not my job as a Palestinian policeman to protect the settlers." --- Jibril Rajoub, P.L.O. Security Chief, in an interview with anchorman Bill Beutel on Eyewitness News Magazine (WABC-TV, New York, 24 December 1994) On support for Yasser Arafat: "Arafat has lost credibility not just in the eyes of Hamas and Jihad men, but also among his own men." --- Dr. Haidar Abdel Shafi, former head of the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks with Israel, in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Serra (Yediot Aharonot, 22 November 1994) This is the thirty-first in a series of quote sheets prepared by: IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org The P.L.O. in its own words: (quote sheet #30) On killing Israelis: "Holy war is our path. My death will be martyrdom. I will knock on the gates of Paradise with the skulls of the sons of Zion." --- Ayman Radi, a traffic policeman in the P.L.O. police force, in a written note to his family before he carried out a suicide bombing in Jerusalem that wounded 13 Israelis (The New York Times, 26 December 1994) On the intifada: "We must always remember that our enemy is the Israeli occupation, and it is incumbent upon us to continue to struggle against it through the blessed intifada... Only the intifada can carry our nation to a more advanced stage." --- Farouk Qaddumi, head of the P.L.O.'s Political Department (Ha'aretz, 16 December 1994) On a Palestinian state: "We are going to continue the Palestinian revolution until the last martyr to create a Palestinian state." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O., in a speech in Gaza City marking the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Fatah faction of the P.L.O. (Agence France Presse, 1 January 1995) On putting a halt to Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorism: "We will not become a tool in Israel's hands with which it can hit the Islamic opposition." --- Nabil Shaath, Minister of Planning for the P.L.O.'s Palestinian Authority (Reuters, 16 November 1994) This is the thirtieth in a series of quote sheets prepared by: IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org To subscribe to IRIS, send a message to: listproc@shamash.org with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your real name for . The P.L.O. in its own words: (quote sheet #29) On shooting Israelis: "I miss the shooting of the Israelis. I hope the Israelis come back again, so we can shoot them again. I always dreamed of the day the Palestinian troops would come to Palestine. Now, I hope we go to war against the Israelis and take all of the West Bank and all of Palestine." --- Arafat Abushabab, head of the P.L.O.'s Fatah Hawks in the Shabura camp in Rafah, Gaza (The New York Times Magazine, 27 November 1994) 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, until the 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) "Our fight should be directed against Israel and not against ourselves." --- Farouk Qaddumi, head of the P.L.O.'s Political Department (Agence France Presse, 21 November 1994) On political opposition to the Fatah faction of the P.L.O.: "Whoever wrongs Fatah, Fatah will open his head." --- slogan chanted by P.L.O. members during a march in Gaza City (The New York Times, 22 November 1994) This is the twenty-ninth in a series of quote sheets prepared by: IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to IRIS, send a message to: listproc@shamash.org with no subject and the following text: subscribe iris substituting your name for . The P.L.O. in its own words: (quote sheet #28) On the Western Wall in Jerusalem: "There isn't a single stone here that has a connection with the Jews. We are willing to permit the Jews to pray outside the Wall. But that doesn't give them ownership rights." ---Ekrima Sa'aid Sabri, the P.L.O.-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem (Religion News Service, 8 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) "The Israeli enemy has still not withdrawn from all Palestinian territory." --- Farouk Qaddumi, head of the P.L.O.'s Political Department (Agence France Presse, 16 November 1994) On the accord between Israel and Jordan: "Israelis on both sides, right and left, are imagining that the Palestinians will accept the pact as it is now. They are dreaming." --- Ekrima Sa'aid Sabri, the P.L.O.-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem (Chicago Tribune, 9 November 1994) This is the twenty-eighth in a series of quote sheets prepared by: IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@nysernet.org To subscribe to IRIS, send a message to: listproc@nysernet.org with no subject line and the following text: subscribe IRIS substituting your real name for The P.L.O. in its own words: On Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorism: "No one can complain about what Hamas and Jihad are doing. I say that it is the right of every Palestinian to struggle so long as there is a single Israeli soldier in the land of Palestine." --- Farouk Qaddumi, head of the P.L.O.'s Political Department (Al-Musawar, 30 September 1994) On the relationship between Hamas and the P.L.O.: "For us, we have a political relationship with Hamas, a brotherly relationship." --- Nabil Shaath, Minister of Planning for the P.L.O.'s Palestinian Authority (Reuters, 28 October 1994) "The dialogue with Hamas will not be broken off. Hamas is a part of the Palestinian people." --- Hisham Abdel-Rizak, a leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction of the P.L.O. in Gaza (UPI, 28 October 1994) On Jerusalem: "Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian state, whether they like it or not. If they don't like it, let them drink out of the sea of Gaza." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O., in a speech in a Gaza (Agence France Presse, 26 October 1994) This is the twenty-seventh in a series of quote sheets prepared by: IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@nysernet.org --------------------------------- To subscribe to IRIS send a message to listproc@nysernet.org with no subject and the following text: subscribe IRIS inserting your actual name in place of . The P.L.O. in its own words: On war and the destruction of Israel: "Our enemy is a lowly enemy. The Palestinian people know there is a state that was established through coercion and it must be destroyed. This is the Palestinian way." --- Farouk Qaddumi, head of the P.L.O.'s Political Department, in a speech at a ceremony marking the closing of the P.L.O.'s radio station in Algiers (Reuters, 10 August 1994; Yediot Aharonot, 10 August 1994) "We will fight until a Palestinian state is established." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O., in a letter congratulating Saddam Hussein on Iraqi Independence Day (Yediot Aharonot, 24 July 1994) On Palestinian democracy: "We are slowly and dangerously moving towards a police state where intimidation and threats become the norm instead of the rule of law." --- Daoud Kuttab, a prominent Arafat supporter and Palestinian journalist, after he was fired from his job for signing a petition protesting the P.L.O.'s decision to shut down a pro-Jordanian newspaper (Reuters, 6 August 1994) On the continuation of the intifada: "The intifada will continue, as will the carrying of weapons in the territories and outside of them." --- Farouk Qaddumi, head of the P.L.O.'s Political Department, in a speech at a ceremony marking the closing of the P.L.O.'s radio station in Algiers (Yediot Aharonot, 10 August 1994) This is the twenty-sixth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org The P.L.O. in its own words: (quote sheet #25) On attacks against Israeli soldiers: "Hamas attacks against Israeli soldiers are still legitimate in the West Bank - and it's not Hamas. Why do you always say Hamas? It is the Palestinian people. I am the secretary of Fatah. I'm calling on them to continue this as long as the Israelis are there." --- Farouk Qaddumi, head of the P.L.O.'s Political Department (Los Angeles Times, 15 July 1994) On waging war and Jerusalem: "The Palestinian people will continue their war until the establishment of a state whose capital will be Jerusalem." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O., in a congratulatory letter to Saddam Hussein on Iraqi Independence Day (Yediot Aharonot, 24 July 1994) "We are taking the flags to Palestine, in order to fly them in Gaza, in Jericho and afterwards in Jerusalem as well." --- a senior aide to P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat, on the preparations to move the organization's headquarters from Tunis to Gaza (Yediot Aharonot, 12 July 1994) On the continuation of the intifada: "The intifada should continue as long as the Israelis are there, because they have postponed all their promises." --- Farouk Qaddumi, head of the P.L.O.'s Political Department (Los Angeles Times, 15 July 1994) This is the twenty-fifth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org To subscribe to IRIS send a message to listproc@shamash.org with ANY subject and the following text: subscribe iris firstname_lastname of course, substitute your real first and last names This information may be reproduced without permission. The P.L.O. in its own words: (quote sheet #24) On freedom of the press: "Those reporters who draw out their pens and spew their venom are leading the people astray and they must be silenced." --- from a statement published by the public relations department of the P.L.O. police force in Jericho in the newspaper An- Nahar on 20 June 1994 (Associated Press, 20 June 1994) On violence against Israelis: "My heartiest blessing to the children of the stones, to the heroes of the stones." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O., in a speech in Gaza City (Associated Press, 1 July 1994) On Palestinian statehood and Jerusalem: "We must redouble our efforts to build our Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O., in a speech in Jericho (Voice of Israel, 5 July 1994) "East Jerusalem will be the capital of the independent State of Palestine after the withdrawal of the Israelis." --- Nabil Shaath, head of the P.L.O. negotiating team with Israel (Ha'aretz, 15 June 1994) "I think that deep down inside the Israelis know that someday they will have to accept Palestinian sovereignty in part of Jerusalem." --- Maen Areiqat, a P.L.O. spokesman at the Orient House in eastern Jerusalem (Chicago Tribune, 24 June 1994) This is the twenty-fourth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org To subscribe to IRIS, send a post to listproc@shamash.org with ANY subject and the text "subscribe iris your_name", without quotes and substituting your actual name for your_name. This information may be reproduced without permission. The P.L.O. in its own words: (quote sheet #23) On Jerusalem: "We are now preparing our national institutions for the establishment of the Palestinian state whose capital will be holy Jerusalem." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O., in a speech before the Organization of African Unity in Tunis on 13 June 1994 (Yediot Aharonot, 14 June 1994) "The battle for Jerusalem has begun." --- Feisal Husseini, leading P.L.O. figure in Israel, in a speech in Bethlehem (The Jerusalem Post International Edition, 18 June 1994) "We will not budge an inch from our demand that Jerusalem be the Palestinian state's eternal capital." --- Nabil Shaath, head of the P.L.O. delegation to the talks with Israel (Middle East News Agency, Cairo, 2 June 1994) On wanted fugitives taking refuge in Gaza: "We came to Jericho because with the Palestinian authority here, it is now safe." --- Ziyad Wawi, a member of the P.L.O.'s Black Panthers who is wanted for murder by Israel, on why he and 18 other fugitives have fled to Jericho (Agence France Presse, 14 June 1994) On why the P.L.O. signed the Cairo agreement with Israel: "The money is the carrot for signing the peace agreement with Israel. We have signed." --- Hassan Abu Libdah, deputy chairman of the P.L.O.'s Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (The New York Times, 10 June 1994) This is the twenty-third in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org To subscribe to IRIS, send a post to listproc@shamash.org with ANY subject and the text "subscribe iris your_name", without quotes and sub- stituting your actual name for your_name. This information may be reproduced without permission. The P.L.O. in its own words: (quote sheet #22) On Jerusalem and the continuation of the armed struggle: "We will continue to fight until the creation of a state with Jerusalem as its capital." --- Jibril Rajoub, P.L.O. security chief for Judea and Samaria (Agence France Presse, 31 May 1994) "The battle is for it." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O., on making Jerusalem the capital of Palestine (Algerian Radio, 31 May 1994) "Of course, it is viewed by us as our future capital." --- Ziad Abu Ziad, senior P.L.O. official (Israel Radio, 27 May 1994) On the weapons of Hamas and Islamic Jihad: "We sanctify the weapons found in the possession of the national factions which are directed against the occupation." --- Jibril Rajoub, P.L.O. security chief for Judea and Samaria, during a lecture at Bethlehem University (Yediot Aharonot, 27 May 1994) On disarray in the P.L.O.: "What is left at the Tunis headquarters now is a group of people inhabiting a complex of offices who report to no one and have no idea what's to become of them." --- a middle-level P.L.O. official (The New York Times, 11 May 1994) This is the twenty-second in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org To subscribe to IRIS, send a post to listproc@shamash.org with ANY subject and the text "subscribe iris your_name", without quotes and sub- stituting your actual name for your_name. This information may be reproduced without permission. The P.L.O. in its own words: (quote sheet #21) On the continuation of the armed struggle: "The light which has shone over Gaza and Jericho will also reach the Negev and the Galilee." --- Rashid Abu-Shebak, one of the heads of the P.L.O. in Gaza, during a speech in the Beduin village of Lakia in the Negev (Yediot Aharonot, 29 May 1994) "If there are those who oppose the agreement with Israel, the gates are open to them to intensify the armed struggle." --- Jibril Rajoub, P.L.O. security chief for Judea and Samaria, during a lecture at Bethlehem University (Yediot Aharonot, 27 May 1994) On Jerusalem: "Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine." --- from the P.L.O.'s draft constitution for the Palestinian National Authority (Le Figaro, 28 May 1994; Yediot Aharonot, 29 May 1994) "We shall not be silent until the establishment of a Palestinian state, and the Israelis must leave East Jerusalem, which is our capital. Jerusalem is a red line for us and a holy place." --- Jibril Rajoub, P.L.O. security chief for Judea and Samaria, during a speech in the Beduin village of Lakia in the Negev (Yediot Aharonot, 29 May 1994) On Yasser Arafat's leadership style: "It does not matter if we are 5, 20 or 24. Arafat will, as usual, make every decision himself. That has been the problem all along." --- a senior P.L.O. official in Tunis, on the 24-member Palestinian authority (The New York Times, 11 May 1994) This is the twenty-first in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org To subscribe to IRIS, send a post to listproc@shamash.org with ANY subject and the text "subscribe iris your_name", without quotes and sub- stituting your actual name for your_name. This information may be reproduced without permission. The P.L.O. in its own words: (quote sheet #20) 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) "There will not be peace without Jerusalem. Our independence will not be complete without Jerusalem. Beloved Jerusalem will return to us, despite the obstinance and the Zionist hypocrisy." --- General Haj Ismail, Palestinian Liberation Army commander in Jericho (Yediot Aharonot, 15 May 1994) 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) 16 days later... "There will be no coordination or security cooperation between Israelis and Palestinian security services." --- Jibril Rajoub, P.L.O. security chief for Judea and Samaria (The Jerusalem Post, 20 May 1994) This is the twentieth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org To subscribe to IRIS, send a post to listproc@shamash.org with ANY subject and the text "subscribe iris your_name", without quotes and sub- stituting your actual name for your_name. This information may be reproduced without permission. The P.L.O. in its own words: (quote sheet #19) On whether the P.L.O. police force witll prevent terrorist attacks against Israel: "Anyone who thinks the Palestinian police will try to prevent attacks outside the borders of the autonomous area is making a bitter mistake." --- Sufian Abu Zaida, a leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in Gaza (Maariv, 25 April 1994) On Palestinian Statehood: "The biggest problem is that we have no experience running a state. We are still trying to form a state." --- General Abdel Hai Abdel Wahed, the senior commander of the P.L.O police force (The New York Times, 8 May 1994) On the "right of return" of Palestinian refugees: "Israel has no right to oppose the return of Palestinian refugees from the '67 war." --- Nabil Shaath, head of the P.L.O. delagation to the talks with Israel (Yediot Aharonot, 8 May 1994) On curtailing Hamas terrorism under autonomy: "We also want to influence them as much as possible to be inside the Palestian self-government, not outside it." --- Sufian Abu Zaida, a leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in Gaza (The New York Times, 1 May 1994) This is the nineteenth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org To subscribe to IRIS, send a post to listproc@shamash.org with ANY subject and the text "subscribe iris your_name", without quotes and sub- stituting your actual name for your_name. This information may be reproduced without permission. The P.L.O. in its own words: (quote sheet #18) On why the P.L.O. signed the agreement in Cairo with Israel: "I am convinced that our people are now on the way to establishing a Palestinian state. The agreement signed in Cairo is the first step in establishing the state, and therefore it should be implemented." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O., in an interview immediately after the signing ceremony in Cairo on 4 May 1994 (Radio Monte Carlo, 4 May 1994) "This is the first step towards a Palestinian state." --- Feisal Husseini, leading P.L.O. figure in Israel (Yediot Aharonot, 4 May 1994) On Palestinian displeasure with the agreement: "I hope that the anger about the agreement will not carry over to the territories, but will instead be turned against the Zionist enemy, who raped our land." --- Farouk Qaddumi, head of the P.L.O. Political Department (Radio Monte Carlo, 5 May 1994) The Israel-P.L.O. agreement "will not be binding on the Palestinian people." --- Dr. Haidar Abdel-Shafi, former head of the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks with Israel, at a press conference in Jerusalem (The Jerusalem Post International Edition, 7 May 1994) "Show me who is pleased with it." --- Hanan Ashrawi, former spokesman for the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks with Israel, when asked if she was pleased with the agreement (Ha'aretz, 5 May 1994) This is the eighteenth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org To subscribe to IRIS, send a post to listproc@shamash.org with ANY subject and the text "subscribe iris your_name", without quotes and sub- stituting your actual name for your_name. This information may be reproduced without permission. The P.L.O. in its own words: (quote sheet #17) On the peace process and the continuation of the armed struggle: The peace process will "not prevent the continued struggle of our people against the illegal actions of the Israeli occupier." --- from a petition signed by Dr. Haidar Abdel-Shafi, former head of the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks with Israel, and other P.L.O. leaders (The New York Times, 26 April 1994) "We call for Fatah Hawks... to escalate the military operations against Israeli soldiers. Every Zionist in the [Gaza] Strip is considered a target for our military apparatus." --- from a leaflet issued by the P.L.O.'s Fatah Hawks in Gaza (The Jerusalem Post, 31 March 1994) "We warn our leaders to stop the negotiations with Israel." --- a gunman from Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction of the P.L.O. at a rally in the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza (Associated Press, 3 April 1994) On Palestinian statehood: "I believe that today's return is the beginning of a journey toward an independent Palestinian state." --- Hanan Deek, daughter of the late P.L.O. military chief Abu Jihad, as she was preparing to travel to Judea and Samaria (Associated Press, 5 April 1994) On Yasser Arafat's style of leadership: "Arafat doesn't think he is accountable. Important posts aren't filled because he can't find people he thinks are loyal enough, not because we lack the experts." --- a P.L.O. military commander (The Jerusalem Report, 5 May 1994 issue) This is the seventeenth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org The P.L.O. in its own words: (Quote Sheet #16) On the continuation of the armed struggle: "The Fatah movement threatened to step up clashes with the Israeli occupation authorities." --- Voice of Palestine, Sanaa, Yemen, 29 March 1994 On the peace process: "It is only a cease-fire until the next stage." --- Abbas Zaki, a member of the P.L.O. Executive Committee and the nominee to head the Palestinian police force in the territories (The Jerusalem Post, 16 March 1994) On Jews in Judea, Samaria and Gaza: "It is clear we do not want them here... We want independence." --- Hisham Abd al-Razek, a senior P.L.O. official in Gaza (Yediot Aharonot, 8 April 1994) On Yasser Arafat's style of leadership: Arafat "wants to control the Palestinians and to put all the strings in his hand." --- a leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction of the P.L.O. in Ramallah (Associated Press, 1 April 1994) On the P.L.O. office currently operating in Jerusalem: "The fact that we sit here is politically significant. It is proof that East Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Palestine." --- Fahim Kilani, public relations officer for the P.L.O. in Jerusalem (The Jerusalem Report, 24 April 1994 issue) This is the sixteenth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS internet address: iris@shamash.org phone: 1-800-228-8193 x23049 The P.L.O. in its own words (Quote Sheet #15) On Coexistence Between Jews and Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza: "Rabin has to remove all the settlers from the West Bank and Gaza and transfer them to hell." --- Jibril Rajoub, senior adviser to Yasser Arafat (Yediot Aharonot, 4 March 1994) On the continuation of the armed struggle: "There is no decision in Fatah to cease the armed struggle against the occupation." --- Abbas Zaki, a member of the P.L.O. Executive Committee and the nominee to head the Palestinian police force in the territories (The Jerusalem Post, 16 March 1994) "The intifada will continue until Israel removes the last soldier." --- Farouq Kaddumi, head of the P.L.O. Political Department (Maariv, 21 March 1994) "I think it is time to go back to clandestine resistance." --- Sheikh Ismail, a member of the P.L.O.'s Fatah Hawks in Gaza (Christian Science Monitor, 21 March 1994) "We shall distribute weapons to the Palestinian residents and return to the armed struggle." --- Jibril Rajoub, senior adviser to Yasser Arafat (Yediot Aharonot, 4 March 1994) This is the fifteenth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS Internet address: iris@shamash.org The P.L.O. in its own words: (Quote Sheet #14) On the continuation of the armed struggle: "We will burn the ground under the feet of the Nazi occupiers." --- from a leaflet issued by the Unified National Leadership of the Intifada (Yediot Aharonot, 1 March 1994) "We are all ready to renew attacks against Israeli soldiers and settlers." --- a leader of the P.L.O.'s Fatah Hawks in Gaza (The New York Times, 5 March 1994) "In Gaza, we demand to go back to the struggle that existed before the September agreement." --- Salim al-Zreii, a leader of Yasir Arafat's Fatah faction of the P.L.O. in Gaza (The New York Times, 6 March 1994) On Palestinian support for the P.L.O.: "People have turned against not just Chairman Arafat, but anyone associated with the peace process." --- Saeb Erakat, one of the chief Palestinian delegates to the talks with Israel (The New York Times, 5 March 1994) "They're a leadership without credibility and without moral authority, and I don't know any Palestinian today who considers the P.L.O. in its current form anything but an organization of losers and has-beens." --- Edward Said, former member of the P.L.O.'s Palestine National Council (The New York Times, 4 March 1994) This is the fourteenth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS Internet address: iris@shamash.org The P.L.O. in its own words: (Quote Sheet #13) On the continuation of the armed struggle: "I want the Palestinian to fight with his gun until the last drop of blood. He should not throw his gun until he dies." --- Rafed Yusef Abed, a member of the P.L.O.'s Fatah Hawks (National Public Radio, 3 February 1994) "We are returning to the armed struggle against the Israeli army." --- from a statement issued by the P.L.O.'s Fatah Hawks (Maariv, 4 February 1994) "We must maintain the high level of the intifada and strike many painful blows against the settlers." --- from a leaflet distributed by the P.L.O.'s Fatah Hawks in Hebron (Ha'aretz, 27 December 1993) On Palestinian statehood: "We are building a Palestinian national authority that we know will be a state in the future." --- Faisal Husseini, senior P.L.O. figure in Israel (The Jerusalem Post, 4 February 1994) "Here is Palestine being reborn again as a national entity on its way to becoming an independent state." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O. (Voice of Palestine, Algiers, 31 December 1993) This is the thirteenth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS Internet address: iris@shamash.org The P.L.O. in its own words: (Quote Sheet #12) On the continuation of the armed struggle: "We say yes to the peace which comes from the mouth of the Kalachnikov [rifle] and no to the peace which comes from the round table. We emphasize that we will escalate military actions by all means at our disposal." --- from a leaflet issued by the P.L.O.'s Fatah Hawks (Maariv, 2 February 1994) "I announce that we ourselves have returned to attack the Israeli army with live fire." --- Riad Abu Susin, a member of the Ahmed Abu Rish faction of the P.L.O.'s Fatah (Maariv, 2 February 1994) On Palestinian justice: "I shot my brother because I received complaints that he took part in immoral actions. I decided to do it to prove to the people that Fatah Hawks are fair and do not discriminate among people." --- Mustafa Baroud, a member of the P.L.O.'s Fatah Hawks, after he made his brother Ahmed kneel in the main square of the Khan Yunis refugee camp and then shot him once in each leg (The Jerusalem Post International Edition, 5 February 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) This is the twelfth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS Internet address: iris@shamash.org The P.L.O. in its own words: (Quote Sheet #11) 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) On the continuation of the armed struggle against Israel: "We will return to the armed struggle." --- a senior leader of the P.L.O.'s Fatah Hawks in Gaza (Yediot Aharonot, 28 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) This is the eleventh in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) IRIS e-mail address: iris@shamash.org The P.L.O. in its own words: (Quote Sheet #10) On Jerusalem: "Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian state." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O. (The Jerusalem Post, 2 January 1994) On whether Jews may live in Judea, Samaria and Gaza: "There will be no peace without the expulsion of all settlers from the West Bank and Gaza." --- from a leaflet distributed in Hebron by the P.L.O.'s Fatah Hawks (Ha'aretz, 27 December 1993) On the continuation of the intifada: "The heroic intifada, which has entered its seventh year, is an extension of the 29-year-old Palestinian revolution and will go on relentlessly... It is continuing, continuing, continuing." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O. (Associated Press, 7 January 1994) On Iraqi missile attacks against Israel during the Gulf War: "The Scuds fired by Iraq against Israel pleased us." --- a local leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction of the P.L.O. in Gaza (International Herald Tribune, 27 December 1993) This is the tenth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) electronic mail address: iris@shamash.org The P.L.O. in its own words: (Quote Sheet #9) On the Palestinian police force: "As a Palestinian police officer, I will not hesitate to give my gun to anyone who approaches me and tells me he is going to commit an attack against the army or the settlers. I will even kiss the gun before and after the operation." --- a P.L.O. recruit from Ramallah for the Palestinian police (Iton Yerushalayim, 10 December 1993) On the right of Jews to visit holy places in Judea, Samaria and Gaza: "We expect the Israelis to give us back these holy places... We believe in freedom of religion. But Jews won't have rights there because these are our places." --- Hasan Tahboub, head of the P.L.O.-backed Supreme Muslim Council (The Jerusalem Report, 16 December 1993) On the continuation of the intifada: "Reteach the enemy the lesson of the intifada." --- from a leaflet distributed in Ramallah by Fatah, Yasser Arafat's faction of the P.L.O. (Iton Yerushalayim, 10 December 1993) On Palestinian statehood: "I am not Mr. Chairman. I am His Excellency, the President of Palestine." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O., in response to a greeting by Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt (Jerusalem Post, 17 December 1993) This is the ninth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) For more information please contact: Michael Freund at mbf@instruct.gsb.columbia.edu 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) "The Palestinian state is within our grasp. Soon the Palestinian flag will fly on the walls, the minarets and the cathedrals of Jerusalem." --- Yasser Arafat (The New York Times, 3 September 1993) This is the eighth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) For more information contact Michael Freund at mbf@instruct.gsb.columbia.edu. To find out about the IRIS net, contact Seth Young at: syoung@shamash.org Yasser Arafat since the handshake: 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) "We will remain together until we reach Jerusalem, with God's help." --- Yasser Arafat, in a letter to Saddam Hussein (Voice of the Palestinian Revolution, Baghdad, 15 November 1993) "I know [declaring a Palestinian state] is a problem for the Israelis. So we'll declare our national authority, which is really a state..." --- Yasser Arafat (U.S. News and World Report, 8 November 1993) "Not exceeding the beginning of the third year, we'll discuss the final status which will lead to an independent Palestinian state with its capital in what we call holy Jerusalem. It is a matter of time." --- Yasser Arafat (Associated Press, 26 September 1993) "Palestine is only a stone's throw away for a small Palestinian boy or girl." --- Yasser Arafat (Jordanian TV, 13 September 1993) The Palestinian flag "will fly over the walls of Jerusalem, the churches of Jerusalem and the mosques of Jerusalem." --- Yasser Arafat (Jordanian TV, 13 September 1993) This is the seventh in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) For more information contact Michael Freund at mbf@instruct.gsb.columbia.edu. THE PALESTINIANS ON VIOLENCE: "Slaughter the Jews!" --- chant heard in mosques throughout Gaza on 25 November 1993 (Yediot Aharonot, 26 November 1993) "Do everything possible to inflict human losses on the enemy side... to make the sons of pigs taste the bitterness of losing a dear one, to make them swim in their own blood." --- spokesman for the P.L.O.'s Fatah Hawks at a press conference in Gaza (Los Angeles Times, 30 November 1993) "We will continue our rebellion against the government of dogs. We will escalate our military attacks everywhere against the Zionists." --- from a leaflet distributed in Gaza by the P.L.O.'s Fatah Hawks (Associated Press, 29 November 1993) "Everything you see and hear today is for tactical and strategic reasons. We have not given up the rifle. We still have armed gangs in the areas and if we do not get our state we will take them out of the closet and fight again." --- Feisal Husseini, leading P.L.O. figure in Israel, in a speech that was delivered on 22 November 1993 at Bir Zeit University (Maariv, 24 November 1993) "The peace process will not tie our hands from going back to the armed struggle." --- from a leaflet distributed in Gaza by the Shabiba, the youth organization of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction of the P.L.O. (New York Times, 1 December 1993) "Today we have already carried out three attacks against Israeli targets in Khan Yunes. We will carry on with our armed attacks against Israeli soldiers until the occupation is finished in the Gaza Strip." --- spokesman for the P.L.O.'s Fatah Hawks at a press conference in Gaza (Agence France Presse, 29 November 1993) "The revolution of stones is the only real face of our struggle to put an end to the Zionist presence. The intifada is the Palestinian people's choice." --- from a statement issued by Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction of the P.L.O. in Sidon, Lebanon (Agence France Presse, 18 November 1993) This is the sixth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) For more information contact Michael Freund at mbf@instruct.gsb.columbia.edu THE P.L.O. IN ITS OWN WORDS: On the continuation of the intifada: "Our intifada has not ended and will not stop... We will continue the revolution until we expel the last of the soldiers and the settlers and liberate every grain of our dear homeland. Yes to the continuation of the revolution." --- from a leaflet distributed in Ramallah on 17 November 1993 by Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction of the P.L.O. (Yediot Aharonot, 19 November 1993) On whether Jews should be allowed to live in Judea, Samaria and Gaza: "The army must withdraw and the settlements and settlers along with it." --- Feisal Husseini, leading P.L.O. figure in Israel (Reuters, 8 November 1993) On the security of Jews living in Gaza under Palestinian autonomy: "The security of the settlers lies only in their departure, and not in any other measures." --- Yahya Rabah, P.L.O. ambassador to Yemen (Voice of Palestine, San'a, Yemen, 1 November 1993) "I believe even those points which have been accepted in the Declaration of Principles about leaving security in the hands of the Israelis will not work." --- Feisal Husseini, leading P.L.O. figure in Israel (The Jerusalem Post, 9 November 1993) On the "right of return" of Palestinian refugees: "800,000 Palestinians among those who left after 1967 will come back in the transitional period, which is five years. Those who left in 1948 will come back after the declaration of the Palestinian independent state." --- Nabil Sha'ath, head of the P.L.O. delegation to the talks with Israel in Taba (Al-Hayat, 28 September 1993) This is the fifth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) For more information contact Michael Freund at mbf@instruct.gsb.columbia.edu. THE P.L.O. IN ITS OWN WORDS: On Jerusalem: "Yasser Arafat stressed the continuation of struggle until the Palestinian flag is hoisted over Jerusalem's walls." --- Voice of Palestine, Algiers, 24 October 1993 "Jerusalem is the capital of our Palestinian state. It is our Jerusalem. And as brother Yasser Arafat said... Jerusalem is not only a Palestinian cause. It is a Palestinian, Arab, Islamic and Christian cause. It is the central issue. And the central axis in all of the realms of our activities." --- Falastin al-Thawra, the P.L.O.'s official magazine, in an editorial on 15 August 1993 On statehood: "The Israelis can say whatever they want. We want a Palestinian state, and after it is established it will have a confederative relationship with Jordan. That is our preference; that is our goal; and we will achieve it in time." --- Abu Mazen, P.L.O. official who signed the agreement in Washington with Shimon Peres (Al-Khiat, cited in the Jerusalem Post International Edition, 13 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 whether Israel should be allowed to protect Jews travelling in Gaza: "They shouldn't have anybody outside the settlements... They should have no military presence on the roads." --- Nabil Sha'ath, head of the P.L.O. delegation to the talks with Israel in Taba (Dow Jones News Service, 11 November 1993) This is the fourth in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) For more information contact Michael Freund at mbf@instruct.gsb.columbia.edu. STILL MORE OF THE P.L.O. IN ITS OWN WORDS: On continuation of the struggle against Israel: "We tell everyone who is for the agreement to go to Jericho and Gaza. We will continue our military struggle." --- Lt. Col. Munir Maqdah, Commander of P.L.O. forces in Lebanon (The Jerusalem Report, 18 November 1993 issue) "Palestine cannot contain the two of us. It is either us or the Zionists." --- Abu Imad, P.L.O. military commander of the Bourj al-Barajneh refugee camp in Lebanon (The Jerusalem Report, 18 November 1993) "We still have some effort to make and struggle to wage in confronting and expelling occupation from all the areas which have been occupied since 1967 and from other areas, in implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolution - the partition resolution." --- Voice of Palestine, Algiers, 23 October 1993 (note the reference to "other areas" - namely pre-1967 Israel) On altering the P.L.O. covenant, which calls for Israel's destruction: "Consequently, the P.L.O. undertakes to submit to the Palestinian National Council for formal approval the necessary changes in regard to the Palestinian covenant." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O. (in the exchange of letters with Israel on 9 September 1993) six weeks later... "Israel must not demand that the P.L.O. alter its covenant, just as the P.L.O. does not demand that the Jewish nation cancel the Bible." --- Ziad Abu Ziad, senior P.L.O. official (in a speech to the American Jewish Federation, 23 October 1993) On Palestinian statehood: "I know [declaring a Palestinian state] is a problem for the Israelis. So we'll declare our national authority, which is really a state..." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O. (U.S. News and World Report, 8 November 1993) "Palestine is onle a stone's throw away for a small Palestinian boy or girl." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O. (Jordanian TV, 13 September 1993) This is the third in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) For more information contact Michael Freund at mbf@instruct.gsb.columbia.edu. MORE OF THE P.L.O. IN ITS OWN WORDS: On Arabs and Jews living together in Gaza: "The settlers are not welcome and the Israelis know that. They must leave." --- Nabil Sha'ath, head of the P.L.O. delegation to the talks with Israel in Taba (Jerusalem Post International Edition, 23 October 1993) On Palestinian statehood: "When we say the Palestinian state is coming, it will undoubtedly come..." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O. (Jordanian TV, 13 September 1993) 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) "Gradually, stage by stage, we will reach an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital." --- Feisal Husseini, senior P.L.O. figure in Israel (Beirut Times, 16 September 1993) "This phase prompts us to maintain the P.L.O. as an expression of our independent Palestinian identity... until our Palestinian state is established on our national soil, G-d willing, with Jerusalem as its capital." --- Farouk Qaddumi, head of the P.L.O. Political Department (Al-Dustur, Amman, Jordan, 16 October 1993) "Mahmoud Abbas, member of the P.L.O. Executive Committee... added that he understood withdrawal to extend to the whole of the territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem included, and the Gaza Strip." --- Voice of Palestine, Algiers, 15 October 1993 The Palestinian flag "will fly over the walls of Jerusalem, the churches of Jerusalem and the mosques of Jerusalem." --- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O. (Jordanian TV, 13 September 1993) This is the second in a series of quote sheets prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security) For more information contact Michael Freund at mbf@instruct.gsb.columbia.edu. The P.L.O. in its own words: On Israel: "We will not lay down our weapons until complete liberation... Sooner or later we will throw the Zionists into the sea." -- Lt. Col. Munir Maqdah, Commander of P.L.O. forces in Lebanon (Reuters, October 8, 1993) "We have to accept the deal and wait for a change in the circumstances that could lead to the elimination of Israel." -- Abu el-Aynayn, P.L.O. Chief of Rashidieh refugee camp in Lebanon (U.S. News and World Report, September 27, 1993) On statehood and Jerusalem: "The Palestinian state is within our grasp. Soon the Palestinian flag will fly on the walls, the minarets and the cathedrals of Jerusalem." -- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O. (The New York Times, September 3, 1993) "If anyone believes we Palestinians can do without east Jerusalem, he is completely mistaken." -- Faisal Husseini, leading P.L.O. figure in Israel (The Guardian of London, September 1, 1993) "Not exceeding the beginning of the third year, we'll discuss the final status which will lead to an independent Palestinian state with its capital in what we call holy Jerusalem. It is a matter of time." -- Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the P.L.O. (Associated Press, September 26, 1993) "We are awaiting completion of the plan to establish the state whose capital must be Jerusalem." -- Husayn Far'un, P.L.O. Security Chief in Lebanon (Al-Hayat, September 28, 1993) On cooperation with the Israeli Army: "In case the Israeli army tries to arrest any of us, we will not hesitate to shoot. I will never surrender." -- Hisham Jouda, Commander of the Fatah Hawks in Gaza (The Jerusalem Post, September 27, 1993) This quote sheet was prepared by IRIS (Information Regarding Israel's Security). For more information, please contact Michael Freund at mbf@instruct.gsb.columbia.edu