Jerusalem, August 10, 1997
PALESTINIAN INCITEMENT TO VIOLENCE SINCE OSLO: A FOUR-YEAR COMPENDIUM
(Communicated by the Israel Government Press Office)
THE OBLIGATION
Under the terms of the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is
obligated to refrain from incitement against Israel and to take measures
to prevent others from engaging in it.
In his exchange of letters with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on September
9, 1993, Chairman Yasser Arafat wrote, "the PLO renounces the use of
terrorism and other acts of violence and will assume responsibility over
all PLO elements and personnel in order to assure their compliance,
prevent violations and discipline violators."
The Interim Agreement (Oslo 2) of September 28, 1995 (Article XXII) states
that Israel and the PA "shall seek to foster mutual understanding and
tolerance and shall accordingly abstain from incitement, including hostile
propaganda, against each other and, without derogating from the principle
of freedom of expression,shall take legal measures to prevent such
incitement by any organizations, groups or individuals within their
jurisdiction."
In the Note for the Record which accompanied the Hebron Protocol of
January 15, 1997, the Palestinians reaffirmed their commitment regarding,
"Preventing incitement and hostile propaganda, as specified in Article
XXII of the Interim Agreement."
THE VIOLATIONS
Following are a collection of nearly 100 statements made by Palestinian
officials since the September 1993 Oslo Accords which constitute
incitement to violence and hostile propaganda against Israel. Such
statements are a violation of the accords. They appear in reverse
chronological order.
* PA Chairman Yasser Arafat in a speech to the Palestinian legislative
council: "They are waging open war against the Palestinian people... We
must confront them, we must confront them, we must confront them. We must
confront them in every sense of the word." (Palestinian Television, August
9, 1997)
* Arafat in a speech to his Fatah movement in Gaza: "It is important that
we organize our homes and our movement so that we can more and more and
more endure the coming battle, which we shall initiate. We must say these
things because great battles lie before us, and it will now be more
difficult than in the past... letus each commit one to another and let us
commit ourselves before Allah and the Palestinian people that we shall
lead the coming battle as we have led previous battles. An oath is an oath
and a promise is a promise. The whole world stands by us, while they are
alone. They are afraid, but we are not. We cling to the oathand the
promise. The Palestinian people is faithful to its oath, the one which we
swore upon the first day when the initial shot was fired and the first of
our martyrs fell. I must say these things so that you will know where, how
and in what direction our movement is heading. We are marching together
with the blessingof Allah, my brothers, we are marching together to
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem." (Palestinian Television, August 5, 1997;
Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, August 6, 1997)
* Suleiman Roumi, member of the Palestinian legislative council: "The
words 'State of Israel' should be replaced with 'Zionist entity' in the
Palestinian lexicon." (Al-Hayat Al- Jadeeda, August 10, 1997)
* Kamel Hamid, head of Fatah in Bethlehem, at a rally: "all means are
legitimate to uproot the despicable occupation." (Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda,
August 10, 1997)
* Nabil Amru, member of the Palestinian legislative council: "Mr. Ross is
honoring us with a working visit today, after the shattered body parts of
the Jews were spread about in Mahane Yehuda." (Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, August
9, 1997)
* Sheikh Hamed Bitawi, chairman of the Palestine Religious Scholars
Association and head of the PA's Sharia Court of Appeals in Nablus, in a
newspaper interview: "That which befell the infidel nations will also
occur to the State of Israel. We are certain that Allah will destroy the
State of Israel either through naturaldisasters, such as an earthquake, or
at the hands of the Moslems, or both." (Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, July 27,
1997)
* PA Youth and Sport Minister Talal Sadr: "All of Palestine is the
homeland of the Palestinian people, beginning with Acre, Haifa and Jaffa."
(Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, July 22, 1997)
* PA Mufti Ikrama Sabri in his weekly Friday prayer sermon at Al-Aksa
Mosque on the Temple Mount: "Oh Allah, destroy America for she is ruled by
Zionist Jews... Allah shall take revenge on behalf of his prophet against
the colonialist settlers who are sons of monkeys and pigs... Forgive us,
Muhammad, for the acts of thesesons of monkeys and pigs, who sought to
harm your sanctity." (Voice of Palestine, July 11, 1997)
* PA Deputy Minister of Supplies Abdel Hamid al-Qudsi in a speech before
businessmen at the Chamber of Commerce in Tulkarem: "There is an Israeli
mafia which is distributing spoiled food products under the aegis of
Israeli generals in the territories of the Palestinian Authority... they
are distributors of death." (Itim news agency, July 9, 1997)
* PA Deputy Minister of Supplies Abdel Hamid al-Qudsi in a newspaper
interview: "Israel is distributing food containing material that causes
cancer 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 absolutelyfeel that it is an organized
plan and conspiracy which is under the auspices of the Israel Defense
Forces... this is a planned and initiated war against the Palestinian
people." (Yediot Aharonot, June 25, 1997)
* Report from the daily news program on the Voice of Palestine, June 24,
1997: "Announcer: The occupation is shooting at children, women and
infants... The latest reports reaching us from Hebron prove that the
occupation forces have opened fire on children, women and infants..."
Voice of a Hebron resident: "...our enemies have no mercy and no heart...
this shows that they have no conscience. Their hearts are like stone. They
are not human beings. One can not compare them to people. They are like
animals, they are like animals."
* Col. Jibril Rajoub, head of the PA Preventive Security Service, in a
television interview: "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."
(Middle East Broadcasting Corp.,June 20, 1997)
* Abbas Zaki, member of the PA legislative council and the Fatah central
committee: "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 ina state of preparedness."
(Al-Sharq al-Awsat, June 16, 1997)
* Muhammad Dahlan, head of the PA's Preventive Security Service in Gaza,
in an interview with the Hamas newspaper Al-Risallah: "The presence of
Hamas on Palestinian territory is very important for building the
Palestinian homeland." (cited in Ha'aretz, June 15,1997)
* Statement issued by Fatah after an emergency meeting on June 14, 1997:
"The policy of settlements and land confiscation constitutes organized
state terror against the Palestinian lands. The Palestinian people have
the right to react to settlement terror via all means." (Voice of
Palestine, June 14, 1997)
* Lead editorial in the Fatah organization's newspaper: "Only the uprising
of the masses and the intifada in the Palestinian homeland in September
1996 enabled the Palestinians to hope for international and Arab support.
It is this intifada which compelled the Israeli side to implement the Oslo
Accords. What distinguishedthis intifada was its official nature.
Palestinian security forces took part side by side with the masses. Only
once the flow of blood began and Israelis died at the hands of the
security forces' gunfire did Netanyahu understand that his assumption that
the Palestinians and Arabs did not have other options was baseless.Only
then did he understand that he must get used to new realities....
Revolutionary violence, which enjoys international legitimacy as a
struggle against occupation, is the option that must be put on the
discussion table. This is the option that will bring about a breakthrough
in the current impasse and breathe new lifein to the agreements." (cited
in Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, June 4, 1997)
* PA Justice Minister Freih Abu Middein at a press conference in Ramallah
explaining that the death penalty imposed on Arabs who sell land to Jews
will be applied to Israeli Arabs: "It is our right to ban the sale of land
(by Arabs to Jews) in Lod and Ramle and other cities inside the 1948
borders." (Agence France Presse,May 27, 1997)
* Arafat in an interview with a Russian newspaper (Novoya Vremya, May 25,
1997):
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.
* Yusuf Abu Sneineh, preacher at Al-Aqsa Mosque, in a Friday prayer
sermon: "The struggle we are waging is an ideological struggle and the
question is: where has the Islamic land of Palestine gone? Where is Haifa
and Jaffa, Lod and Ramle, Acre, Safed and Tiberias? Where is Hebron and
Jerusalem?" (Voice of Palestine, May23, 1997)
* Poem read on the Voice of Palestine, the official PA radio station, on
May 22, 1997 during the morning news program "A New Day" as part of a
series of "Songs of the Homeland". The same poem was read on the Voice of
Palestine during the September 1996 riots: "O our beautiful land
imprisoned in a cage and surrounded by wolves, My shaded garden, the
tormentors have destroyed you, and the dogs have settled in you, O
Jerusalem, O my city, With my notebook and pencil and the fire of my rifle
I will shatter the cage, I will kill the wolves and plant the flag, The
dogs will not bark in the heroic cities."
* PA Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Feisal Husseini in a newspaper
interview: "Israel is attempting to obstruct peace. If Israel continues to
succeed in this approach, then she is destroying the peace process. The
only option remaining for us will be an alternative option... war. Allow
me to say that it takes only one sideto start a war. At the end of the
path on which Israel is proceeding, a declaration of war awaits."
(Al-Ittihad, May 18, 1997)
* PA Mufti Sheikh Ikrama Sabri in a newspaper interview: "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." (The New York Times, May 18,
1997)
* Statement issued by the PA cabinet in Nablus on May 16, 1997: "We did
not pay with the dear blood of thousands of martyrs so that the Israeli
government could establish settlements on our land in the name of peace.
We have sacrificed in the past and we will be ready to sacrifice again in
the future for the sake of liberatingour land and returning it to the
bosom of the Palestinian nation and for the sake of establishing an
independent Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem." (Voice of
Palestine, May 17, 1997)
* Imad Mazen Izz al-Din, the PA's Political Instructor for National
Guidance: "We shall always stand against them, threaten their future, and
not permit them to expand. We shall stand with all our might against any
attempted settlement effort. If they do not implement the agreement, we
shall determine what the essentiallocations are in each settlement, and we
will turn the lives of the settlers into hell." (Al-Hayat Al- Jadeeda,
April 30, 1997)
* PA Planning Minister Nabil Shaath at a forum in Khan Yunis: "All options
are open for defending the land of the Palestinian people." (Al-Hayat
Al-Jadeeda, April 30, 1997)
* Arafat addressing a crowd in Tulkarem: "I now see the walls of
Jerusalem, the mosques of Jerusalem, the churches of Jerusalem. My
brothers! With blood and with spirit we will redeem you, Palestine! Yes,
with blood and with spirit we will redeem you, Palestine!" (Voice of
Palestine, April 28, 1997)
* PA Cabinet Secretary Ahmad Abdul Rahman in a radio interview: "We must
not forget that the American administration suffers from a disease whose
name is the Zionist lobby in Washington." (Voice of Palestine, April 14,
1997)
* Arafat, in a letter to the Conference of Businessmen for Jerusalem,
which was held in Jordan: "The settlements are a declaration of total war
against the Palestinian people, an open and destructive war against our
people, our land and our holy places. The Israeli settlements on our land,
in our Jerusalem and in the restof the West Bank are a war against the
peace process." (Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, April 6, 1997)
* PA Communications Minister Imad Falouji in an interview: "Rabin
understood the situation after paying a very steep price. After Netanyahu
sees blood in the streets, he will understand, too... Netanyahu is a
beginner in politics. He hasn't gotten any big hit yet. When he gets one
of those hits, he will understand... Everyone- everyone - knew there would
be a bomb before the Tel Aviv explosion. And today, if things fail, I'm
not going to be shocked if Hamas is going to do something else." (Miami
Herald, April 5, 1997)
* Farouk Kaddumi, Head of the PLO Political Department : "The only option
in this situation is to continue the uprising since this is the only
language which Israel understands." (Al-Hayat, April 2, 1997)
* Amin Maqbul, member of the Fatah Higher Council, at a Nablus rally: "All
options are open, including the armed struggle if necessary." (Al-Quds,
March 30, 1997)
* Arafat in a speech before the meeting of Arab League Foreign Ministers
in Cairo: "Israel's actions are a lowly crime... The movement of Israeli
tanks and armor, which ring Palestinian cities, are a declaration of war
against the Palestinian people.... According to international
understandings, this is a war situation.The only thing left for them is to
use the atomic bomb." (Middle East News Agency and Agence France Presse,
March 30, 1997)
* PA Information Ministry press release of March 29, 1997: "Since the very
beginning of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Israeli governments were anxious
to apply the most dangerous ethnic cleansing theory against the
Palestinian people. According to their racist ideology, the Israeli policy
makers were dedicated to capturinga land without a people for a people
without a land."
* Statement issued by the PA legislative council on March 27, 1997, just 6
days after the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv: The Council congratulates "all
the holy martyrs resulting from the noble wave of opposition to the
Israeli Government's settlement activity." (Maariv, March 28, 1997)
* Marwan Barghouti, Fatah Secretary-General and PA Council member: "I
don't think that stones are violence. It is peaceful to throw stones."
(Jerusalem Post, March 26, 1997)
* PA Information Ministry press release of March 22, 1997: "Israeli
settlement activity is another face of terror and its continuity only
supports the Israeli terrorist policy against the Palestinian people and
land."
* Palestinian representative Nabil Ramlawi at a session of the United
Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva: "Israeli authorities...
infected by injection 300 Palestinian children with the HIV virus during
the years of the intifada." (Jerusalem Post, March 17, 1997)
* Othman Abu Gharbiya, PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's Adviser on National
Political Guidance, in a radio interview: "We are fighting and struggling
with an enemy who is Shylock. We must know that he is Shylock." (Voice of
Palestine, March 15, 1997)
* PA Cabinet Secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman: "From now on, resisting
settlements will not be through words, condemnation or complaints to the
UN Security Council." (Washington Post, March 10, 1997)
* PA Information Ministry press release of February 26, 1997: "The
Ministry of Information warns the Israeli government and its settlers that
their crime will not pass quietly and that the Palestinian people has the
right to defend itself and its land."
* PA Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Feisal Husseini: "If Prime Minister
Netanyahu decides to build in Har Homa, this will be a declaration of war
on the Palestinians." (Yediot Aharonot, February 18, 1997)
1996:
* PA Information Ministry press release of November 14, 1996: "Naturally,
the Palestinian people attains the absolute right to express its
willingness to achieve independence through its intifada, which was
crowned with the declaration of independence."
* Hani al-Hasan, advisor to Chairman Arafat, at a memorial service for
Fathi Shikaki, the slain leader of Islamic Jihad: "Fathi Shikaki is a
giant among the giants of the Palestinian people, one of the giants of the
nation. He believed in Islam and he spread it. He was the teacher of
generations who understood that wherethere is unity there is victory, and
where there is fear there is defeat, without connection to the views that
one holds." (An-Nahar, Oct. 29, 1996)
* Arafat in an October 21 speech at the Dehaishe refugee camp: "We know
only one word: jihad, jihad, jihad. When we stopped the intifada, we did
not stop the jihad for the establishment of a Palestinian state whose
capital is Jerusalem. And we are now entering the phase of the great jihad
prior to the establishment of anindependent Palestinian state whose
capital is Jerusalem.... We are in a conflict with the Zionist movement
and the Balfour Declaration and all imperialist activities" (Yediot
Aharonot, Oct. 23, 1996).
* Arafat to a delegation of Hebron Arab notables urging the use of
violence: "Have you run out of stones in Hebron? Prepare the stones."
(Voice of Israel, Oct. 21, 1996).
* Arafat in an October 10 speech before the Palestinian Council:
"Negotiations have achieved nothing up until now. As a consequence, we
must be ready in every way to confront all possibilities. You must
understand what I mean by this." (Near East Report, Oct. 21, 1996)
* Arafat in an interview with the Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam, calls
for "mass confrontations in all cities and villages to confront the
Israeli aggression against Al- Aksa mosque" (cited in the New York Times,
Oct. 4, 1996)
* Arafat to Palestinian security forces in Gaza on September 24: "They
will fight for Allah, and they will kill and be killed, and this is a
solemn oath... Our blood is cheap compared with the cause which has
brought us together and which at moments separated us, but shortly we will
meet again in heaven... Palestine isour land and Jerusalem is our capital"
(Maariv, Oct. 4, 1996).
* On August 30, Muhammad Dahlan, a senior Gaza PA security official, said:
"The Palestinian Authority does not exclude the return to the armed
struggle, and it will then use its weapons." (cited in the Jerusalem
Report, Nov. 28, 1996)
* On August 6, Arafat called Israel a "demon" and urged Arabs to use "all
means" at their disposal to fight Israel (The New York Times, Aug. 7,
1996).
* Arafat to a rally in Gaza: "We are committed to all martyrs who died for
the cause of Jerusalem starting with Ahmed Musa until the last martyr
Yihye Ayyash." (Jerusalem Post, July 28, 1996) Musa was the first member
of Fatah to be killed in 1965, and Ayyash, known as "the Engineer", was
the mastermind behind a seriesof Hamas suicide bombing attacks prior to
his death in January 1996.
* PA Mufti Sheikh Ikram Sabri in a sermon at Al-Aqsa Mosque: Palestinians
should "rise up with all their might against the occupation." (Jerusalem
Post, June 14, 1996)
* Arafat threatening Israel with violence: "If Israel rejects our demands
there will be a reaction and we have a 30,000 man armed force." (Israel
Radio, June 7, 1996)
* Arafat alleging that a secret Israeli military group, OAS, was behind
terror attacks against Israelis: "We have clues that some of the recent
operations in Israel were carried out in cooperation with the OAS in
Israel." (Jerusalem Post, April 30, 1996)
* PA Ministry of Information, in a statement issued to the media on April
22, comparing Israel's actions with those of the Nazis: "While the Israeli
government is speaking about the atrocities committed against the Jews at
Auschwitz, Birkenau and Dachau concentration camps... it is directly
involved these days in weavingplots and causing two major catastrophes to
their neighbors... Our homeland was transformed into a big concentration
camp..."
* Arafat claiming Israel supplied weapons to terrorist groups for suicide
bombings against Israelis: "These weapons could be obtained only from high
authorities with great influence on the Israeli side." (Jerusalem Post,
March 22, 1996)
* Arafat asserting that Israel armed Hamas and Islamic Jihad to carry out
attacks against Israelis: "We must remember that these organizations were
created by Israel, which also distributed arms to them, so are we supposed
to collect the arms Israel distributed?" (DPA German News Agency, Feb. 28,
1996)
* PA Planning Minister Nabil Shaath at a symposium: "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" (Jerusalem Post, March
15, 1996).
* Voice of Palestine on February 28 asserted that suicide bombing attacks
against Israelis were the work of Israeli Knesset Member Rehavam Zeevi
"and the Israeli extreme right-wing organization Eyal." (cited in the
Jerusalem Post, March 15, 1996)
* PA Planning Minister Nabil Shaath, in an interview with Le Monde: "I am
convinced, like Arafat, that these attacks could not have been carried out
without cooperation from Israeli extremists." (cited in Haaretz, March 6,
1996)
* Selim Zaanoun, acting chairman of the Palestinian National Council, at
Arafat's inauguration: "We are returning to Palestine, and we are passing
from the small jihad to the great jihad." (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 13, 1996)
* Arafat on Yihye Ayyash, Hamas mastermind of suicide bombing attacks
against Israel: "a hero of the Palestinian people" and a "martyr." (New
York Times, Jan. 8, 1996)
1995
* Arafat on the intifada: "Our oath is still in force and our commitment
is still valid - to continue in the path of the heroes and the dead of the
intifada." (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 17, 1995)
* Arafat in a radio address: "The struggle will continue until all of
Palestine is liberated." (Voice of Palestine, Nov. 11, 1995)
* Arafat 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." (Maariv, Sep. 7, 1995)
* Arafat in a speech on September 3 publicly praising Abir al-Wahidi,
involved in murder of Israeli Zvi Klein in 1991, and Dalal al-Maghrabi,
who took part in Coastal Road Massacre in 1978 which killed 37 Israelis:
"Yes, we are proud of the Palestinian girl, the Palestinian woman and the
Palestinian child who fulfilledthese 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 and Dalal al-Maghrabi, Martyr of Palestine. I bow in
respect and admiration to the Palestinian woman who receives her
martyredson with joyful cheering. The soul and blood for you, O
Palestine!" (Israel Channel Two Television, Sep. 19, 1995)
* Arafat in August 1995: "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."(Haaretz, Sep. 6, 1995; The
Jerusalem Post, Sep. 7, 1995)
* Arafat in a speech in Gaza: "The soul and the blood we shall sacrifice
for thee, Palestine." (Jerusalem Post, Aug. 3, 1995)
* Arafat in a speech at Gaza's Al-Azhar University on June 19: "The
commitment still stands and the oath is still valid: that we will continue
this long jihad, this difficult jihad... via deaths, via sacrifices." (The
Jerusalem Post, Aug. 3, 1995) Arafat also praised Dalal al-Maghrabi, one
of the perpetrators of the 1978Coastal Road Massacre in which 37 Israelis
were killed: "She was one of the heroes... She commanded the group that
established the first Palestinian republic in a bus... This is the
Palestinian woman... the woman we are proud of." (Jerusalem Post Aug. 3,
1995) He further stated, "We are all seekers of martyrdom in thepath of
truth and right toward Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Palestine."
(Haaretz, August 3, 1995)
* Feisal Husseini in an interview: "There will be an intifada not just in
Jerusalem, but in all the occupied territories and in all the Middle
East." (Voice of Israel, May 21; Haaretz, May 22, 1995)
* PA Justice Minister Freih Abu Middein in a radio interview: "We have a
standing committee to follow up on the Jerusalem issue and the latest
relevant developments. There will also be popular moves to mobilize
resources in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza, even if this calls for a
new intifada, no matter what impactthis will have." (Cairo Radio, May 20,
cited in FBIS, May 22, 1995)
* PA Justice Minister Freih Abu Middein in a speech read in Arafat's name
at Gaza's Shawa Cultural Center: "I say once more that Israel shall remain
the principal enemy of the Palestinian people, not only now but also in
the future." (Voice of Palestine, May 12, 1995) One month previously, at
Gaza's Al-Azhar University,Abu Middein said, "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." (An-Nahar, Apr. 11, 1995; The
Jerusalem Post, Apr. 17, 1995)
* Feisal Husseini in an interview with the Egyptian weekly Al-Arabi: "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." (Agence France Presse, May 1, 1995)
* Arafat, at a rally in Gaza, compared the Oslo Accord with the temporary
truce between Muhammad and the Quraish tribe, which was later broken, and
said, "We signed that agreement in Oslo, and if any of you has one
objection to it, I have one hundred objections." (Voice of Palestine,
April 16, cited in FBIS, April 18, 1995)
* PA Mufti Sheikh Ikram Sabri: "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." (Al-Sharq al-Awsat, Apr. 7, 1995;
The Jerusalem Post, May 3, 1995)
* Arafat in a message marking Land Day: "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." (Voice of
Palestine, March 31, 1995)
* PA Planning Minister Nabil Shaath in an interview with Al-Watan on
February 28: "If it becomes certain that the negotiations process with
Israel is ending in failure, there will be no option other than jihad."
(cited in FBIS, March 1, 1995)
* Arafat in a speech relayed by telephone to a Hebron rally: "Our nation
is a nation of sacrifice, struggle and jihad." (Voice of Palestine, Feb.
14, 1995)
* Arafat in a speech in Gaza: "We are all on our way to die as heroes on
the road to Jerusalem, the capital of the state of Palestine." (Jerusalem
Post, Jan. 30, 1995)
* Arafat in a speech in Gaza in January 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." (Parade Magazine,New York Newsday, June 25, 1995)
* Arafat in a speech on the 30th anniversary of Fatah's founding: "We are
going to continue the Palestinian revolution until the last martyr to
create a Palestinian state." (AFP, Jan. 1, 1995) He further stated, "We
are all seekers of martyrdom... I say to the martyrs who died, to the
martyrs who are still alive, we holdto the oath, we hold to the commitment
to continue the revolution..." (Palestinian TV Jan. 1, 1995)
1994:
* Arafat in an address to the Organization of the Islamic Conference: "The
glorious Islamic solidarity together with our people's jihad is an
additional inducement for the realization of our hopes." (Voice of
Palestine, Dec. 15, 1994)
* Arafat at a rally in Gaza: "Our people will continue with its jihad."
(Haaretz, Nov. 22, 1994)
* Arafat during a speech in Gaza: "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 theIsraeli enemy leaves." (Yediot
Aharonot, Nov. 16, 1994)
* Arafat in a letter to Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Yassin and Hamas
terrorist Sheikh Hunam, who killed 14 Israelis in an attack on Bus 405 in
1989: "My brother, Sheikh Yassin, my brother the holy Sheikh Abdelhadi
Hunam, I recognize your participation in the struggle to free Palestine.
Because of you, Palestine is free."(Haaretz, Oct. 5, 1994)
* Arafat in a letter to Saddam Hussein: "The Palestinian people will
continue their war until the establishment of a state whose capital will
be Jerusalem." (Yediot Aharonot, July 24, 1994)
* Jibril Rajoub in an interview: "We will continue to fight until the
creation of a state with Jerusalem as its capital." (Agence France Presse,
May 31, 1994)
* Rashid Abu-Shbak, a senior PA security official, on pre-1967 Israel:
"The light which has shone over Gaza and Jericho will also reach the Negev
and the Galilee." (Yediot Aharonot, May 29, 1994)
* Jibril Rajoub in a lecture at Bethlehem University: "We sanctify the
weapons found in the possession of the national factions which are
directed against the occupation.... If there are those who oppose the
agreement with Israel, the gates are open to them to intensify the armed
struggle." (Yediot Aharonot, May 27, 1994)
* Arafat at a mosque in Johannesburg, South Africa on May 10, 1994: "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."
(Israel Radio, May 17, 1994; JerusalemPost, May 18, 1994) Arafat further
stated that the Oslo Accord was akin to the temporary truce between
Muhammad and the Quraish tribe, which was later broken: "This agreement, I
am not considering it more than the agreement which had been signed
between our prophet Muhammad and Quraish, and you remember that the
CaliphOmar had refused this agreement and considered it a despicable
truce... But the same way Muhammad had accepted it, we are now accepting
this peace effort." (Haaretz, May 23, 1994)
* Jibril Rajoub in an interview: "Rabin has to remove all the settlers
from the West Bank and Gaza and transfer them to hell." He also warned:
"We shall distribute weapons to the Palestinian residents and return to
the armed struggle." (Yediot Aharonot, March 4, 1994)
* Arafat during a speech in Gaza: "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." (Associated Press, Jan. 7, 1994)
1993 (after the Oslo Accords were made public): * Arafat in a radio
address: "It is a revolution until victory, until victory,
until victory."
(Algiers Voice of Palestine, Dec. 31, 1993)
* Feisal Husseini in a speech at Bir Zeit University on November 22:
"Everything you see and hear today is for tactical and strategic reasons.
We have not given up the rifle. We still have armed gangs the areas and if
we do not get our state we will take them out of the closet and fight
again." (Maariv, Nov. 24, 1993)
* Voice of Palestine report: "Yasser Arafat stressed the continuation of
struggle until the Palestinian flag is hoisted over Jerusalem's walls."
(Voice of Palestine, Oct. 24, 1993)
* Arafat in a speech on Jordanian TV: "Palestine is only a stone's throw
away for a small Palestinian boy or girl." (Jordanian TV, Sep. 13, 1993)
* Arafat asserting that the Oslo Accord is part of the PLO's 1974 phased
plan for Israel's destruction: "[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 nationalauthority on any part of
Palestinian soil from which Israel withdraws or which is liberated."
(Radio Monte Carlo, Sep. 1, 1993)