Quotes of the Day

“There will be no peace, no security and no stability in the Middle East until the Israelis end their occupation.”
(Taib Abdel-Rahim, PA Presidential secretary [one of Arafat’s top advisors] 7:00 a.m. headline and Morning Spotlight.
Note: this quotation was given by VOP announcers, not in Abdel-Rahim’s voice. Spotlight quotes [see below] are in his voice.)

“We threw the Israelis out of Lebanon, and we will throw them out of Hebron.”
(Yousef al-Kazzaz,senior VOP commentator, during morning commentary, 8:35 a.m., Nov. 6)

Summary and Analysis — November 6, 2000

VOP’s news shows are concentrating on reports of heavy fighting (according to VOP) in Tulkarm, Beit Sahur, Hebron and Bethlehem, among other locations. The descriptions from field reporters are graphic, bordering on the hysterical (especially Salim Abu Salih in Hebron) including phrases such as “as dum-dum bullets pierced the six-year-old’s chest” and “using chemical weapons on women and children.”

VOP also featured claims by Fathi Arafat, head of the Palestinian Red Crescent (and Yasser Arafat’s brother) that Israel is trying to destroy the Red Crescent physically and organizationally.(Israel has charged that Red Crescent ambulances have been used to move Palestinian fighters and their ammunition.) VOP is also featuring prominently reports of Israeli forces entering hospitals, attacking ambulances and preventing health care to needy Palestinians.

VOP interviews and the daily commentary suggest that Yasser Arafat is going to Washington with a sense of confidence that he can make Bill Clinton (fearful of regional instability following another Palestinian-Israeli clash) force Israel to make far-reaching concessions [see below].

VOP Commentary with Analysis

“A Palestinian-American summit this Thursday in Washington between the two presidents-President Yasser Arafat and President Bill Clinton.

“Whatever the results of the American elections, His Excellency President Arafat is carrying with him among his papers a small portfolio with strong contents and mailing address: the Palestinian people through its elected leadership is committed to consummating the (current) emergency with complete freedom and Palestinian legitimacy for which it has resolved with the necessary political power from the sons of our Palestinian people-both as a stance and as a national decision-a Palestinian state with holy Jerusalem as its capital.

“The Israeli settlements will not remain on Palestinian soil because they are a minefield for peace process, killing Palestinian citizens and destroying Palestinian land.

“Therefore our Palestinian people have undertaken-both to the American side and to the Israeli side-that these two sides’ leaderships will be strong enough to choose a peace that is based on international legitimacy, resolutions 242 and 338.

“We recall that the American Republican Party, under the leadership of former president George Bush, reinforced the terrorist Shamir in toughening conditions for the Madrid Conference.

“But the American Democratic Party is too weak to force Israel to keep its obligations and conditions based on international legitimacy and the Madrid Conference.

“The Israelis themselves-specifically Uri Savir-say that Barak’s heart is with the Israeli Right, linked by love to Israeli settlement.

“And O Ye Israeli women and mothers, we have started-in the women’s movement — taking out the settlements. We have raised the slogan: We have taken our soldiers out of Lebanon and we will take them out of Hebron, ending the prohibited killing of Palestinian children.

“We say, we Palestinians, that if the Israelis want to live as a people, a tranquil life, then they must force their leadership to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian lands-first of all Holy Jerusalem occupied in ’67. And they must also force the settlements to pull out of Palestinian lands and into the Green Line or into any other place in this world.

“And we say to the Americans-no matter who their president is: Israel will not remain the guardian of American interests God Willing, if it continues its occupation of Palestinian soil, if it continues its settlement and its Judaization (of the land).

“Palestinian blood will defeat occupation, settlement and Judaization and siege and bullets and tanks and missiles.

“Let the Americans and Israelis remember that Iranian people defeated the largest army in the world at the time– the army of the Shah of Iran in 1979.”

Analysis

The comments of Taib Abdel-Rahim and Youssef al-Kazzaz underscore the confident-even threatening- and somewhat anti-American tone of Palestinian Authority officials on the eve of the Washington summit. VOP has compared Palestinian Intifadists over the last two days to fighers from Vietnam, Algeria and Iranian revolutionaries. There is a sense that whatever Yasser Arafat is telling his diplomatic interlocutors, he believes he is controlling events, not just on a local level, but a regional level.

Attitude to Reconciliation or Negotiation with Israel

There is no attempt whatsoever on VOP to offer reconciliation with Israel or restraint of Palestinian forces-unless all Palestinian demands are met.

Morning Headlines
(7 a.m., 8 a.m., 10 a.m.)

  • “One woman martyred and ten injured in scores of incidents in the homeland;
  • Masses in the Shujaiyya Camp in Gaza will accompany the martyr Marwan al-Ghamri today;
  • Settlers continue their aggression against our citizens in several locations;
  • Occupation forces use artillery and heavy weapons to attack houses in Jericho, Jenin, Hebron,Tulkarm and Qalqilya;
  • Power shortages in Hebron due to Israeli shelling;
  • White House announces invitation to President Arafat Thursda and to Barak on Sunday;
  • Presidential Secretary Taib Abdel-Rahim,speaking for President Arafat says there will be no peace, no security and no stability in region until all Palestinian national goals are met.”

Morning Spotlight
Taib Abdel-Rahim,Presidential Secretary
(speaking in Gaza meeting, offered on VOP verbatim)

“The whole world is with us against the occupation and demanding international protection and demanding an international investigation to pursue those occupiers and war criminals who believe that power will overcome our people.

“They will not benefit from their machinations and from their previous lessons. For this people will not be denied except only by Allah.

“We cling to a peace of the brave, and not a peace for cowards-which is what they are trying to force on us. Any peace like that will be refused by us with blood.”

Morning Interview
Ahmad Qureia, Speaker of Parliament

Question: What is your view of the upcoming summit?

Answer: “I think the American president has many opportunities and enough time to deal with events based on international legitimacy-Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 as well as General Assembly Resolution 194-resolutions for which the U.S. voted. But in the recent period the U.S. has maintained positions not obligating the Israeli side and not demanding that the Israeli side carry out international decisions.

Question: The Israelis are demanding that there be no fire on Israeli neighborhoods?

Answer: “Well, the situation as to what the Israelis are initiating is that the Israelis want the Palestinians to evacuate (Arabic: tarhil) so that everything will be theirs. And I don’t see any progress in the Israeli position regarding the previous negotiations. They don’t want to change the situation. They want to attempt to systematize their occupation. The solution is the complete withdrawal from all Arab territories since ’67 and a just solution to the refugee problem. If the American administration wants such a solution (we say), ‘Welcome’ [Arabic: Ahlan wa-sahlan].”

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