Tuesday, November 19, 2024
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Seven Years of Arming the PLO

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

The State of Israel has armed its enemies.

After six years it is still difficult to digest this. It is hard to believe that by its own hand,Israel built up a hostile military force and let it entrench itself in the heart of the country.

“How do we expect them to keep order if they don’t get arms?”
“How will they fight against Hamas? With sticks?”
These were the rhetorical questions Shimon Peres asked in the Knesset debates in the euphoric early days of Oslo.

Such was the Israeli justification for the transfer of 11,544 weapons to the “retired” terrorists who would in due course once again do battle against Israel.

To be sure, Rabin, Peres, and their partners were not the originators of the idea of building a Palestinian force in the Land of Israel.

In the first Camp David agreement, Menachem Begin agreed to the establishment of “a strong local police force” whose purpose would be to maintain public order in the proposed Palestinian “autonomy.”

Later, under the May, 1994 Gaza-Jericho Agreements which were part of the Oslo peace process, the term “Palestinian police” was coined. This was a military force disguised as a civil guard. It was also decided that this “police force” would be responsible for public order, prevent hostile actions, and be the only armed force in the Gaza Strip and Jericho area.

To carry out these undertakings, the “thinkers” of Oslo I gave the Palestinian police 7,000 submachine guns of different types, 120 machine guns of 0.3 and 0.5 inch caliber, a number of boats (for the Palestinian coast guard) and 45 armored vehicles. These, it was stressed, would move on wheels, not on chains. The kinds of weapons and quantities of ammunition the Palestinians would be permitted were not specified. In the course of time, the PA exploited this lack of clarity. It was also specified that 9,000 men would serve in the Palestinian police force. That left 2,000 policemen who would presumably be unarmed-or perhaps armed with billy clubs, a highly improbable scenario.

In the weeks preceding the summer of 1994, when the Palestinian forces took positions in Gaza and Jericho, Israel examined carefully every single one of the weapons which were intended for the new police force. Rifles were marked; numbers were etched into them; and in the laboratories of the army, the ballistic signatures were registered. The weapons were supposed to become personal weapons; the number on a weapon would be attached to an individual in the Palestinian police force just as is done with weapons in the Israel Defense Force, so that in case of a prohibited use of a weapon, Israel could quickly identify its owner.

The careful marking was done in accordance with instructions by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in an effort to calm the Israeli public.

The citizens of the state did not easily buy into the idea of resting their security on Arafat’s men.

The slogan, “Don’t give them rifles,” and the arguments of the opposition that Palestinian policemen were nothing but terrorists in disguise, made an impression on the average Israeli who is usually apathetic, if not asleep. Therefore Rabin instructed the security services to undertake this effort to convince the public that its safety was being guarded.

However, the measures that were taken were merely for appearance sake. From recent accounts by senior officers who were involved in the process of arming the Palestinians, it emerges that the army knew perfectly well that the day after the policeman received his meticulously-identified rifle, nothing would prevent him from exchanging his weapon with someone else. Even in the Israel Defense Forces, no one thought seriously it would be possible to track down such exchanges. Thus it was clear from the beginning that all the cross-referencing between the number on the weapon and the owner were useful-in the best case-tor only a very short time.

The ballistic signatures were an even greater fiction. The reasons are clear to any beginner. To identify a weapon from which a shot was fired, one has to find the cartridges expelled during the firing. But a Palestinian policeman who goes out to ambush someone from Area A (under control of the Palestinian Authority), or from a vehicle that then drives off to the sovereign Palestinian area, knows the forces of the Israeli Department for Criminal Investigation will not follow him to look for cartridges. Even the most advanced methods used to identify a weapon on the basis of the bullets fired from it are useful in only a small minority of cases.

Usually, investigators cannot find the bullet, or even if they do, if it was squashed as it is in most cases, they cannot make use of it. To these difficulties, add a third one. Half of the weapons given to the Palestinians were M16s. Because of their great speed and small size, the bullets of M-16s easily disappear, are shattered, or squashed. In other words, the ballistic signatures were of no practical use.

One must assume this defect was brought to the knowledge of the politicians who had decided to arm the Palestinians with these rifles but they decided “Never mind; it will be O.K.” Colonel Gal Hirsch, commander of the Binyamin brigade, recently roared with laughter when he was asked about ballistic examination of the Palestinian bullets which were fired at Israeli forces in the recent turmoil. He explained that one cannot carry out this kind of examination for thousands of bullets. On the other hand the Kalachnikov used to shoot at the bus on French Hill in Jerusalem was identified with absolute certainty: it appears on the official list of weapons with which Israel armed the forces of the Palestinian Authority.

Three months after the Palestinian Authority entered Gaza in 1994, the PA police force turned its arms on the Israel Defense Forces for the first time.

The battle took place at the Erez crossing, lasted for some hours, and resulted in the death of an Israeli soldier. The Israeli government explained that the Palestinian police had not yet become accustomed to the new rules and the Israeli public promptly forgot this serious event, Indeed, the Palestinian police never adjusted to the rules which Israel assigned them, despite which Israel steadily increased the weapons in their hands.

The Palestinians have increased their weaponry through two major channels: direct supply by Israel and smuggling. The Palestinians issued requests, five or six times a year, for more ammunition stores. All these requests-every single one of them-received a positive response. As of 1996, the Palestinians had stockpiled a million and a half rifle bullets, out of which one million were 7.26 millimeter caliber (for Kalachnikovs) and 400,000 were 9 millimeter caliber appropriate for pistols and Uzi submachine guns and 100,000 bullets of 5.26 millimeter for the M-16 and the Galil assault rifles. Like the rifles, the bullets were not directly supplied from the stores of the Israel Defense Forces but were acquired by the Palestinians by purchase abroad and were acquired with Israeli consent and supervision.

Only after two and a half years, with the change to a Likud-fed government, was this flood stopped by the officer in charge, who observed: “The quantities are completely irrational and the principle on my watch is ‘The less they have, the healthier it is.”‘

As for the PA’s second method of arming itself, the information system of the Israel Defense Forces followed endless smuggling of weapons into the autonomy area.

They got in by land, sea, and air. As a result, the Palestinian police was strengthened militar- fly, and was transformed from a police force to a regular guerrilla army. Israeli military intelligence officers saw this and commented on it but none pounded the table…

The Israeli underworld served as another source of weapons for the Palestinians. Israeli criminals sold their Arab partners significant numbers of Uzi and Galil submachine guns. This is probably the reason why these weapons are found so abundantly on the shoulders of Palestinian warriors. Other types of prohibited weapons were the Karl Gustav and the M-1, which is a sharpshooter’s gun.

How many weapons have the Palestinians assembled in the past seven years? The Israeli army knows how many MIGs Syria has, but research for this article has shown that military intelligence has not the faintest idea how many Kalachnikovs are in the hands of Yasser Arafat. ‘Tens of thousands more than were agreed upon” said an IDF spokesman, “How many tens of thousands?” “I don’t know. Maybe thirty thousand. Maybe more.” The main indication for these enormous numbers of weapons is that in the “autonomous areas” one can obtain weapons of all kinds for ridiculously low prices. The fact the prices are so low means the market is flooded.

What is clear to all is that the Palestinians have increased the variety of their weapons. Recently Barnachano, the official army publication, reported that the PA has tanks and anti-aircraft missiles which are a serious danger to Israel’s helicopters. The PA also has anti-tank weapons and mines, hand grenades, and explosives of different types.

In the fall of 1995, at the height of the smuggling era, the Palestinians obtained still more help from an unexpected source-Israel. The Israeli leadership knew well from intelligence reports that the Palestinians were arming themselves from their own resources. In spite of this Israel gave them a gift-8,000 new weapons. And there was an additional Israeli gift-a tripling of the size of the Palestinian “police” to 30,000 men, all of this to accompany the signing of Oslo 11. According to this agreement, 4,000 new “policemen” would be allowed in the cities of Judea and Samaria armed with Kalachnikovs and M-16s (duly marked by Israel of course). Four thousand additional policemen received Beretta pistols and to this were added 120 machine guns. Even so, it reached the point where there were 15,000 more policemen than officially permitted weapons in the hands of the Palestinian Authority.

There was no escaping the conclusion that Rabin, Peres & Co. were aware of the fact this large force was not going to carry out its undertakings with nightsticks.

One of the IDF army officers who was opposed to what was going on at the time, but is not yet completely free to speak, said that the government’s closing of its eyes to the extent of Palestinian armament is symptomatic of the Oslo process.

The Oslo process meant the avoidance of problems rather than confronting them.

The political leadership tried to blur the fact that there were basic breaches of agreements and that while Israel wanted peace, the Palestinians wanted to continue the struggle. The politicians ignored the facts; they ignored the military analyses; they ignored the uselessness of the ballistic markings; they ignored the smuggling. In short, they avoided all obstacles so that the process could go on. This writer asked the army officer who must still remain anonymous: “All right, we know about the politicians. This was their agenda and they could not admit their mistakes, but why was the army quiet?” He said: “Some in the army wanted to be partners in this historical process and closed their eyes to avoid recognizing the military meaning of what was going on.”

What this officer could not say explicitly has been said by Likud Knesset member Uzi Landau: “it is not a matter simply of closing one’s eyes. This was intentional deception and intentional ignoring of information. There was an uninterrupted process of arms smuggling from Egypt through Gaza and from Jordan. The leadership clique swept everything under the rug. The army did not take seriously the information it had collected itself, and anyone who spoke up and warned was treated as a spinner of fantasies. All the revelations-the supposedly new ones that appear in the government White Paper [published on this website]- are in fact old news.

For the last year and a half, the IDF had information making it clear the Palestinians were preparing themselves for a time of conflict. It is a very worrisome question why the army did not strongly oppose the government’s obfuscation.”

For over two and a half years, Landau saw from up close how the army failed to speak up strongly but instead followed the program fed to it by the Prime Minister. During Landau’s service as chairman of the Knesset Foreign and Security Committee, the committee was briefed by intelligence officers that the Palestinian coast guard had acquired the character of a small navy and that the Palestinian police had established a commando unit undergoing rigorous training. Intelligence officers as well as attentive settlers related that during the night, in the wadis, the Palestinians were conducting regular firing exercises. But reports are one thing-action something else.

The Netanyahu government, elected in 1996, not only did nothing to stop Palestinian armament, but graciously turned over to the Palestinians 200 Ingram submachine guns as part of the withdrawal agreement from Hebron.

Incidentally, after their distribution, the Ingrams disappeared from Hebron, apparently to go into a Palestinian emergency storage depot. To Netanyahu’s credit, two years later he pulled himself together enough to demand in the Wye conference that the illegal weapons be collected. Clinton proposed establishing a mechanism administered by the CIA to supervise the process.

The Palestinians agreed to Clinton’s proposal. They only had a small condition. In return they demanded that the CIA train their forces in the most up-to-date methods of combat etc. Netanyahu did not oppose this. In practice, as usual, only the paragraphs benefiting the Palestinians were carried out. They received the ClAtraining and kept the weapons.

The CIA training and support, whose precise nature remains secret, continued until the last possible moment.

The last truckload of American supplies crossed the Karni crossing point for Gaza on the third day of the breakout of the current uprising.

Under Barak, further Israeli support was given, to build up Palestinian forces.

Only eight months ago, just one month before the earlier “Naqba” riots by the Palestinians, Barak approved turning over to them 300 additional Kalachnikovs.

A senior IDF officer defended this decision before the Foreign and Security Affairs Committee of the Knesset. Thus the Palestinian forces have reached the point where they are now. They possess enormous reserves of ammunition.

In September of 2000, on the Jewish New Year, they began to direct precise fire on the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces and the inhabitants of the Jewish communities of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

The eyes that were glued shut for seven years have opened in horrified amazement.

This article ran in the December, 2000 issue of Nekudah, a monthly magazine

Official PA radio news – P.B.C. V.O.P. (Voice of Palestine) Radio: Tuesday February 27th & Wednesday February 28th. Anti-Zionist Hasidim Dominate the V.O.P. Airwaves

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

Summary and Analysis

The Palestinian Authority is charging Israel with “unprecedented escalations,” even as its broadcast arm, V.O.P., appears to be readying the Palestinian population for a still-worse escalation, perhaps even Israeli invasion.

In one of the tragic-comic interludes of Palestinian radio, the Voice of Palestine turned over its microphones and headlines for several hours Tuesday and Wednesday to the anti-Zionist Hasidic advertisers in The New York Times.

Palestinian National Congress speaker Salim Za’anoun (who recently raised hackles with Arafat by asking for more power sharing) returned to the headlines and news items again Wednesday, holding a limited session of the PNC.

Why is Arafat allowing the appearance (in public and in the state-run media) of Za’anoun, always viewed as a hard-liner and someone who has recently reiterated that the PNC never actually repealed the Palestinian Covenant? Possible Answer: Arafat supports the hard line, but, as is often the case, would prefer that someone else get the blame if the hard line elicits a harsh American and/or Israeli response. Another possible answer: Arafat is actually acceding-at least in appearance-to the power-sharing demands of some of his critics, and he is allowing a more public face to younger generation (home-grown) leaders such as Marwan Barghouti. But if experience is any guide, Arafat will let out the leash for a while, and then pull it back in when he thinks Za’anoun, Barghouti and others have over-stepped the line.

V.O.P. largely downplayed the three sniping attacks on four Israeli civilians at the northern approaches to Jerusalem on Tuesday evening February 27. The events were treated as an after-word to various Israeli attacks and search procedures, some of which were prompted by the sniping attacks.

Tuesday Evening Headlines, February 27

  • “Israeli occupation forces are currently bombarding inhabited residences in Mount Tawil (jabal Tawil) in El-Bireh, and sources tell us that occupation forces in the colony of Psagot, built on the land of (Palestinian) citizens opened heavy automatic weapons fire on residential neighborhoods in Mount Tawil;
  • In addition, Israeli occupation forces are currently shelling the northern approaches and inhabited neighborhoods of El-Bireh using heavy automatic fire concentrated from the colony of Beit El;
  • The youngster Muhammad Mahmoud Hilis, 13 years old from Gaza, was very seriously wounded by israeli fire concentrated from the Mintar Crossing in eastern Gaza. And our correspondent says that the youth, who was taken to Shifa Hospital, was hit by an explosive bullet in the head (Note: this would be an illegal “dum-dum”-like bullet);
  • And in a new confrontations, five citizens in Kalandia Camp were wounded by live bullets and suffocation, after protests to mark the martyring of Hussan al-Disi who was felled by occupation bullets yesterday;
  • Occupation authorities have imposed a curfew on the town of Rafat near Ramallah, and occupation soldiers have invaded some of the citizens’ houses, bringing armored personnel carriers into the center of the town…and opening fire in the vicinity of the Palestine Broadcasting Service;
  • Occupation forces have stopped for search about 20 cars on the approach to Bani Zeideh;
  • This afternoon, three settlers were wounded when their car was subjected to fire near the colony of Giv’at Ze’ev, which was built on land of citizens from south of Betunia. And Israeli sources say the wounded are one man and two women, all in serious condition;
  • At this moment in Amman his excellency President yaser Arafat is conducting talks with the Jordanian monarch King Abdullah, and talks are revolving around recent political developments and the visit of American Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as civilian matters and the continuation of Israeli military aggression. In addition, the are discussing the upcoming Arab summit on March 27. And Jordan is the first stop on an international swing for President Arafat that will take him to Egypt and to Libya;
  • Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul-Hilal al-Khatib said today that talks between King Abdullah and Egyptian President Husni Mubarak dealt with preparations for the summit…;
  • The Central Rabbinical organization of Jews of the United States condemned Israel’s destructive polices against the Arab peoples, especially the Palestinian people. And the statement which was published in the New York Times said ‘the existence of Zionism and Israel was an affront to the will of God who stripped the Jews of the control of the dejected Temple and the Holy Land, and decreed upon them “exile” and revulsion among the peoples of the world.And the Central Rabbinical Organization concluded that Zionism is against the Torah and the will of God'”

Note: despite the relatively short nature of the bulletin, V.O.P. went on to quote the anti-Israeli advertisement at length and with great relish concerning the guilt of Israel in committing many massacres and other great transgressions. One may ask why did V.O.P. bother with this item, reaching into the New York Times for an advertisement? Answer: this is a wonderful opportunity for the V.O.P. to tell its listeners what it really thinks about Israel and Zionism without facing the risk of violating the Oslo accords, which prohibit such comments, by simply quoting a Jewish group.

The translator does not know which rabbinical organization took out this advertisement in the NYT, but it sounds like Satmer Hassidim or Neturei Karta, rather than a major American Jewish group. Nevertheless, V.O.P. and the PA can almost never resist grabbing a criticism of Israel out of the mouths of Jews-sometimes distorting and exaggerating the criticism-to build a case against Jewish control of Jerusalem. V.O.P. did something similar in October when it distorted the findings of a Tel Aviv University professor of archeology, claiming his findings showed there had never been a Temple of Solomon where the Islamic shrines currently stand]

  • United Nations settlement authorities say the Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands are illegitimate and illegal…The comments came in its 18th annual gathering in Kenya; (Here, too, the provenance of this item is not clear, or for that matter which UN body is being quoted)
  • Minister of the (Israeli) Labor Party are meeting to determine the portfolios in the Sharon Government.And Yossi Beilin of the Labor Party said that Sharon has committed some of the worst political transactions.”

9:00 p.m. Evening News, Tuesday February 27

  • “Israeli occupation forces escalate their aggression in the Ramallah district, bombarding residential neighborhoods with artillery and automatic fire;
  • Several citizens wounded by occupation bullet fire;
  • Three settlers and two soldiers from occupation army in shooting incidents near Rafat south west of Ramallah;
  • His Excellency President Yasser Arafat pursues talks in Amman that will also take him to Egypt and Libya;
  • Central Rabbis of Jews in the United States and Canada condemn the policies of Israel against Arab peoples, especially our Palestinian people;
  • Sources in the Likud Party say it intends to bring in an additional 17 Knesset members from the extreme Right;
  • The Israeli police are investigating moral charges againt Member of Knesset Ayyoub Kara, acused of molesting a woman in his office;
  • Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul-Hilal al-Khatib says the Arab summit will concentrate on issues relating to the peace process;
  • Iraq and the United Nations agree to hold a third session (of talks) in New York in three weeks.”

Wednesday Morning Headlines. 7 a.m. / 8 a.m. / 9 a.m.

  • “The martyring of Na’im Ahmad Baddabin, 50 years old after a tank attacked his house in el-Bireh;
  • Occupation bombardments and automatic fire on our citizens in various parts of the homeland, wounding 15, three of them classified as serious;
  • His Excellency President Yasser Arafat holds talks in Cairo today with Egyptian President Husni Mubarak…discussing current political developments and to prepare for the coming Arab summit;
  • Members of the Palestinian National Congress in Gaza held a session yesterday headed by Salim Za’anoun, the speaker of the Congress, discussing the political developments in the shadow of continuing Israeli aggression, the continuing siege and political developments in Israel;
  • The Ministry of Health denies reports in the Israeli media that 15 new ambulances were allowed to enter (PA territory) as part of easing up in the health sphere;
  • The Central Rabbis of the United States and Canada condemn Israel for attacks on the Arabs, particularly the Palestinians [NOTE: this item began as an advertisement in the NYTimes by some extremist fringe Hasidic group, but it became a major V.O.P. headline for more than 12 hours straight. >

Wednesday February 28th Morning News Round-Up

  • “Haphazard Occupation bombardment of residential neighborhoods in El-Bireh and other areas, leading to the martyring of citizen Na’im Ahmad Baddadin, 50 years old, and the clinical death of the child Muhammad Mahmoud Ishil in Gaza;
  • A dangerous Israeli escalation of its military and occupation measures involving widespread attacks and incursions in the village of Rafat near Ramallah [Note: V.O.P. does not mention that this was location of sniping attacks on Israelis the day before];
  • Palestinian refusal to resume security contacts (with Israel) at this time under the present political and security climate and unless it is done with American participation;
  • General Amin al-Hindi, director of General Intelligence will discuss this subject with us…;
  • The siege and the Israeli aggression are turning lies of citizens nto an endless nightmare full of economic worry, and the authorities are demanding international assistance for thousands on the edge of poverty and the inability to live;
  • Israeli Labor Party heads to government with the Likud…”

Quote of the Day

“The greatest danger to the Palestinians is colonization and settlers, and they are nothing but a gang, and (note: as in gang of robbers, or band as in band of robbers) even as Israel talks about civilians… these settlers are nothing more than an armed militia.”
PA Cabinet Secretary Ahmad Abdul-Rahman, Wednesday February 28 7:30 a.m. See also comments from February 27 on PA consigning “outlaw” or “bounty” status to settlers.

Quotes from Interview with Ahmad Abd-alRahman, PA Cabinet Secretary, 7:25 a.m.

Question: Direct artillery bombardment of houses. What do yousay about this escalation and arbitrary use of force ?”

Answer: “Israeli forces, under direct orders from Barak and Sharon, have for about the last ten days have carried out an unprecedented escalation on Palestinian territory. In response to rocks, we receive bullets and poison gas, and in response to demonstrations, we get explosive bullets. And from any point that they feel confrontation with youths, they open up with direct artillery shelling. So it is now, whether in Beit Jallah or El-Bireh or in Khan Yunis or in Rafah and also in Hebron. It is an escalation whose only goal is to send a message to the Palestinian people, and to the Palestinian Intifada, that Israel has no answer to the Intifada, for the Palestinian people and its demand to liberate its land, except for power, military power, more killing, more law of destruction of Palestinians and their land.

This is a danger for which Israel must take full blame-before our people and the international community. That is why voices have been raised throughout the world against this wanton use of military force by Israel and the assassinations and so forth along with other Israeli crimes. As well the American State Department published a report and condemnation of this wanton use of force and the policy of assassinations. And Human Rights report in New York also commented on the deliberate blind use of force against Palestinian houses.”

Question: “The Settlement Council in the West Bank speaks of liquidating President Yasser Arafat. What do you say to that and how do maneuver… in response to such threats?”

Answer: “These threats are the best indication that the greatest danger to the Palestinians is colonization and settlers, and they are nothing but a gang, and (note: as in gang of robbers, or band as in band of robbers) even as Israel talks about civilians, these settlers are nothing more than an armed militia serving the army, and the army serves them. What does the army do in Palestinian lands except serving the settlers, closing roads for the Palestinians and opening roads for the settlers. They enable the settlers to cut down the trees and seize control of the land. This settlement existence has reached a level where it directs Israeli policy and demands from Sharon the liquidation of President Yasser Arafat. These dangerous words published by the settlers and the settlement council are like a big placard showing the voices of the international community that the settlers have no place in Palestinian territory. They have to leave this land for the Palestinian people and return to their homes inside Israel.”

Official PA radio news – P.B.C. V.O.P. (Voice of Palestine) Radio, March 1-2.V.O.P. Reacts to Mofaz

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

Summary & Analysis

In its Thursday and Friday broadcasts, V.O.P. has been almost mono-maniacally fixated on Israeli comments portending possible military action inside PA territory. Various PA ministers have-following the lead of Presidential Secretary Ta’ib Abd-al-Rahim several days ago and again Thursday, warning that any Israeli invasion “will not be a picnic.”

This “not-be-a-picnic” has become a mantra along with personal insults hurled at Israeli army generals Shaul Mofaz (chief of staff) and Moshe “Boogy” Ya’alon (deputy COS) as well as continuing slurs against Ariel Sharon and Ehud Barak.

A large portion of the 90 minutes of the Thursday morning News Round-Up was devoted to this subject in one form or another.

In addition, V.O.P. broadcast an undisguised SOS for financial and political support on the eve of what it says will be the height of its historic battle for freedom.

There was limited and tangential V.O.P. coverage of the bomb-explosion-aboard-the-taxi story on Thursday evening or Friday, and there was no condemnation of the incident. (Note: a mysterious explosion in the “liberated” side of Hebron a week ago was also virtually ignored. Israeli officials believe that both incidents involved abortive terror attacks or preparations for car bombs.)

As the “Feast of the Sacrifice” approaches, V.O.P. featured an address from Jerusalem Mufti Sheikh Ikrema al-Sabry detailing the religious laws and timetable associated with the Feast. The sheikh also called on celebrants of the Feast not to forget their needy brothers.

In the Friday mosque speech broadcast on V.O.P. from the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the United States was attacked bitterly for supporting Israel and for attacking the Palestinians and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. The speaker, Youssef Abu-Sneina, is known for his vitriolic addresses, and that he was chosen to speak and to be broadcast on PA radio during the week of the Colin Powell visit says almost as much as the very content of his remarks.

Thursday Morning Round-up Headlines-March 1

  • “Twenty wounded from Occupation forces’ shooting, including a four-year old, and the Israeli aggression and siege continues against our people;
  • His Excellency President Yasser Arafat meets in Cairo with Egyptian President Husni Mubarak, and will hold talks in Libya today with Libyan leader Mu’amar Qadhafi;
  • The (Palestinian) National Authority regards the Mofaz accusations (about the PA being a terrorist entity) a prelude to full-scale aggression;
  • The prayers for the Feast of the Sacrifice on Monday at 6:35;
  • Financial maneuvers with the European sponsors to bring aid to our Palestinian people in the shadow of the Israeli siege and aggression;
  • Demonstrations against Israeli use of internationally forbidden gases.”

Thursday Morning Headlines, 7 a.m. / 8 a.m. / 9 a.m.

  • “His Excellency President Yasser Arafat is discussing the latest developments in the peace process, in the Libyan capital with Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi, in addition to discussing the Arab situation before the holding of the Arab summit in Amman at the end of next month;
  • Presidential Secretary Ta’ib Abd-al-Rahim rejects the accusations of the Israeli Occupation army chief of staff that the Palestinian National Authority was turning into a terrorist entity. Abd-al-Rahim said these pronouncements were a step towards building support for attempts to realize self-fulfilling prophecies (in Arabic: law of desires) by (Israeli chief of staff Shaul) Mofaz himself against the (Palestinian) National Authority, Palestinian officials and the Palestinian people. The Presidential Secretary placed the blame on Israel for any results of any military operation taken against liberated territories (i.e. territory ceded to the PA by Israel) or the Palestinian Leadership, because the results would be destructive and uncontainable.;
  • The National Authority sends an urgent appeal to Arab leaders and kings and heads of Arab states to stand firm with the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in its historic battle for freedom and independence;
  • On the other hand, the National Authority said it was ready for military and security officials to search for weapons that Mofaz, the Israeli chief of staff, says that the National Authority possesses;
  • Israeli occupation forces invade Beit Auwa last night in the liberated part of the Hebron district, and bombarded with heavy artillery and automatic weapons the Mughraaqa area (in Gaza) near the settlement of Netzarim, damaging several houses.;
  • Egyptian President Husni Mubarak had a telephone conversation with defeated Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak the dangers of the absence of any peace process in the Middle East;
  • The South African parliament agrees to the government demand to send a fact-finding commission to Palestinian territories to uncover Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people;
  • Three parliamentary members of the Israeli Center Party announce their departure from the party.;
  • The summit of the Organization of African Unity begins in Libya today led by Libyan leader Mu’ammar al-Qadhafi.”

Quotes from Commentary by Samir Interr, senior V.O.P. anchorman

“A responsible information source asserts the following:

‘General Shaul Mofaz, Israeli army chief of staff, held a press conference yesterday evening in which he announced that Israel could not withstand the mental pressure.and that the Israeli army would soon begin a complete attack (‘udwan: also means “aggression”) on Palestinian territory and on National Authority personnel. Mofaz said that Palestinian Authority officials, first of all those in security apparatus, have been smuggling military equipment including anti-aircraft missiles.bringing them in by sea and via tunnels between Egyptian (controlled) Rafah and Palestinian (controlled) Rafah, and that Egypt has refused to act in this matter.

As for these Israeli threats, we say the following:

The recent statements by Israeli officials or by Israeli settlers who declared their desire for the assassination of President Yasser Arafat have been set forth with one purpose-preparing the way for a general Israeli attack targeting the institutions of the Palestinian National Authority, and first of all its heads and security apparatus.

We read on the record and in between the lines the written statement issued by General Mofaz to the communications media and the various press and television outlets as an internal Israeli media campaign against the Palestinian National Authority. We also read (i.e. we see) an agreement between Prime Minister Ehud Barak and elected prime minister Ariel Sharon and the leadership of the Israeli army to execute a complete and frantic military escalation. And Mofaz’s press conference is a prelude to this dangerous military escalation..

(Note: the statement by the “responsible source” then detailed the various Israeli measures that would make smuggling weapons into PA territory impossible-without, of course, mentioning that Israel has been charging PA officials with VIP “immunity” of using their vehicles, including Arafat’s own helicopter, for smuggling weapons.)

We also read these aggressive statements as a sign that the Israeli leadership has been preparing for sometime to launch a fatal strike against the peace process..

(The statement then said that the Palestinian people would use every weapon in their possession-from rocks upward-to fight Israeli aggression, but it called on the world community to protect the Palestinians from the coming Israeli aggression, adding that it was ready to receive international inspectors to investigate and search for the weapons described by Mofaz.)

As for Mofaz’s comment on the National Authority becoming a terrorist entity (i.e. the PA), it (the comment) is not worthy of reply.'”

(Note: the statement was then followed immediately by an interview with the man who probably wrote the statement — PA Information Minister Yasser Abed-Rabbo.)

Quotes from Yasser Abed-Rabbo, PA Minister of Information, at 7:40 a.m.

Question: What do you say about the report on Mofaz’s statement, about the charges of terrorism and smuggling missiles and other weapons?”

Answer: “This is part of the campaign that the (Israeli) army leadership has started since the eruption of the legitimate Palestinian intifada. This campaign wants to justify the evil style and measures taken by the Israeli army and the settlers against the Palestinian people. And on the other had it wants to lay the blame for the escalation, confrontation and violence on the Palestinian people and its leadership. We see this campaign as coming at a time when the international community has increased its condemnation of Israel’s repressive style and measures and collective punishment, especially the racist approach taken by the Israeli Occupation against the Palestinian people..

(Note: the following remarks actually came in answer to a second question about a South African delegation proposing investigation of Israel for war crimes.)

In the worst days of the racism in South Africa, no one witnessed anything approaching what is now doing to the Palestinian people. They did not see the bombardment of cities and collective punishment and the disruption of economic life. They did not witness a policy of assassination embraced officially by the government of Israel.”

Thursday Evening Headlines, March 1, 7 p.m.
(two hours after explosion on Wadi Ara Road)

  • “Israeli occupation forces extended and continued their aggression and siege against our innocent citizens.;
  • Israeli occupation authorities impose curfew on Rafat in Ramallah district.;
  • In Qalqilya, one citizen was injured during demonstration this evening.;
  • The Fatah movement in the West Bank asserts that the intrepid Intifada is the legitimate son of the Palestinian people and its national leadership, and it will continue until the disappearance of the Occupation and the complete realization of Palestinian independence under the leadership of the President, the Leader, Abu Amar.;
  • The National Authority warned the Israeli government against any planned military operations against territory under Palestinian Authority sovereignty.Presidential Secretary Ta’ib Abd-al-Rahim said the results of such an operation would be destructive and impossible to confine. And for his part, Cabinet Secretary Ahmad Abd-al-Rahman condemned the statement of deputy Israeli chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon, the deputy of Mofaz and said that any attempt by the Israeli army to occupy Palestinian territory would not be a picnic and would lead to the Israelis paying a high price;
  • Yaalon told The Washington Post that Israel was studying the possibility of occupying parts of the National Authority.;
  • The Israeli police says it is investigating an explosion in Tel Aviv (yesterday) and its connection to an explosion that took place in Wadi Ara this afternoon that led to the death of one Israeli and the wounding of nine others. The Police say the wounded man holding the bomb was trying to transport it in a taxi when it exploded and that he is responsible for placing a bomb near a Tel Aviv restaurant.And as is customary, Israel accused the national Authority of responsibility in this explosion which occurred inside Israel..;
  • A spokesman for Israeli prime minister-elect Sharon said he would present his government to the Knesset next Wednesday.”

Friday Morning Headlines, March 2, 7 a.m. / 8 a.m. / 9 a.m.

  • ” Occupation forces bombard inhabited neighborhoods in el-Bireh and Rafat township in the district, using heavy weapons;
  • Confrontations in Qalqilya and Bir Nidam, where the youth Ra’id Tamimi was shot in the face;
  • His Excellency President Yasser Arafat stresses that the Israeli side will not succeed in imposing borders on us or the region. President Arafat made his comments at a summit of the Organization of African Unity in Libya. And His Excellency said that there would be no stability and no security unless Israel keeps all agreements.;
  • The Fatah movement declares that the intrepid Intifada is the legitimate child of our people and its national leadership, and it will continue until the disappearance (note-zawal: also extinction or total removal) of the Occupation and the achievement of complete independence and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state under the leadership of The President, The Leader, Abu Amar;
  • The Israeli police say they are investigating a Jewish woman of Russian extraction in connection with a romantic liaison with the man who carried out the explosive incident in Wadi Ara inside the Green Line, leading to the death of one person and the wounding of nine others;
  • The permanent Palestinian observer to the United Nation, Dr. Nasser Al-Kudwa, urges Security Council to dispatch of international observers as soon as possible.;
  • The new American administration says it intends to announce that new sanctions against Iraq should have an effect on the Iraqi government and not on the Iraqi people;
  • The (Israeli) Labor Party today chooses its candidates for the (Sharon) Government.”

Quotes from Interview with Sheikh Ikrema al-Sabry, Mufti, Friday, 8:30 a.m.

[The Mufti was asked about Israeli plots against al-Aqsa and assertions by Israel that the Muslims were doing something wrong in their digs that would lead to the destruction of important archeological material.]

“In the name of God the compassionate and merciful. We say first that Al Aqsa belongs only to the Muslims, and the Jews have no connection to it. All these protests from the Israelis show that they have designs on the blessed al Aqsa. The house of al-Aqsa is our house. We are the guardians of its protection and its preservation. All these statements by them that they have holy archeological artifacts in Al-Aqsa are simply delusional..There is no connection to Solomon’s temple (Heikal Suleiman). And there is no connection Jewish artifacts. This site goes back to the Omayyad era and after it to the Ayyubi period and the Mamluke period, and it has no connection to Hebrew history. And all comments that these artifacts have a connection what is called Solomon’s Temple are untrue. Until now, Israeli experts have admitted that they have found no trace that has any connection to Solomon’s Temple. And until this time, they do not know where Solomon’s Temple was located.”

Interviewer: “That’s true.”

Official PA radio news – P.B.C. V.O.P. (Voice of Palestine) Radio: February 27th

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

Summary and Analysis

In the aftermath of the visit of Colin Powell, both the Palestinian Authority and Israel agree on one thing: there has been an escalation of organized physical violence and verbal exhortation and excusing of such violence. Indeed, the PA does not really bother to hide any longer that it is exhorting to violence-except that it DEFINES this as justifiable resistance. V.O.P. made no effort at hiding the fact that Arafat actually gave a pep talk to West Bank leaders urging continued “resistance” and “steadfastness.” When one or more of those leaders then emerges from the meeting and urges (or when V.O.P. announcer Samir Interr or Commentator Yousef al-Kazaaz exhorts) Palestinians not to fire on Israelis from inhabited Palestinian buildings, V.O.P. IS SAYING THAT these instructions on when and how to fire on Israelis came right from the top: from Arafat himself</>.

The Voice of Palestine has been featuring PA officials who condemn Israeli officials and officers for talking about Israel’s “liquidation policy”-what the PA calls “Israel’s assassination policy.” Officials such as Col. Tawfik al-Tirawi (PA West Bank General Intelligence chief) are threatening counter-assassinations, while West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti promises an endless intifada: they are among the regular main interviewees on the prime time news shows.

Contrary to the spin of some Israeli commentators, Barghouti is depicted on V.O.P. as a loyal disciple of Arafat. For example, in a local report from Rashid Hilal in Ramllah on February 27, correspondent Hilal describe Arafat’s call for continued “steadfastness” in confronting Israel. And then Hilal follows immediately with a soundbite from Barghouti (introduced as Fatah West Bank Secretary) saying:

“The representatives of Palestinian power at the meeting (in Ramallah with Arafat) expressed their happiness at this meeting with his excellency, after a long period-due to the circumstances, after a long cut-off. The Brother, the president (note: an affectionate reference to Arafat), after his meeting with Palestinian power representatives in the Gaza Strip told the meeting of the representatives of Palestinian Power at the meeting with his excellency the president that because of the circumstances that we all see that the national and Islamic forces are guardians of the Revolution. The representatives of power listened to his excellency’s explanation of the political and economic situation and the political developments and the subjects of the Intifada, stressing the steadfastness of our people and lauding the extraordinary steadfastness in the face of siege and aggression against our people, and the assassinations and so forth. (He) underlined that the Leadership is clinging to the national principles of the Palestinians and at the same time not forgetting the Palestinian negotiating conditions.” (see below for fuller text)

In addition to threatening interviews, V.O.P. is filling its news shows with lurid headlines of expanding Israeli atrocities-from poison gas attacks to cold blooded murder of children and their parents. V.O.P. and the PA’s top officials have been tying Ariel Sharon to this policy of “crimes against the Palestinian people,” (recent interviews with Taib Abd-al-Rahim, Ahmad Abd-al-Rahman, Hanan Ashrawi, Yasser Abed-Rabbo and Tawfik Tirawi, among others) even though Sharon has still not taken office.

Any and all Israeli military actions are described by V.O.P.’s announcers and local correspondents routinely as JARA’IM “crimes,” and Palestinian officials openly encourage the view that Israeli officials and officers are war criminals, guilty of crimes against humanity and subject to international judgment at a war crimes tribunal.

At the same time, V.O.P. has subtly but clearly changed its policy towards Israeli settlers over the last six weeks, but especially in the last few days. Settlers were, of course, never loved by the Palestinians, but there has been a marked change in recent days. While Israeli officials are “criminals” subject to international judgment, settlers are criminal subject to summary Palestinian judgment.

The PA has acted much like a sheriff in the old Wild West movies: putting a bounty on outlaws-except in this case the settlers have been defined as outlaws, as war criminals. Murdering them is an acceptable part of what the Palestinians called al-intifada al-silmiyya: “the peaceful intifada.”

When V.O.P. announces that a dead Israel came from or was killed near a particular settlement “built on land taken from ———— (the name of a Palestinian town or village)”, it is tantamount to saying “he got what he deserved.” V.O.P., however, does not bother to remove “guilt” from other “non-settler” Israelis killed during the Intifada. All Israeli deaths continue to be classified as either “occupation soldier” deaths or “settler” deaths, both of which are justified according to the ethos and lexicon of the Palestinian National Movement.

Important Personal Observation

As a general rule, when the PA escalates its rhetoric and allows or encourages more anti-Israeli violence, there is often an important “internal” Palestinian motive, such as growing criticism of PA corruption. one senses in the Barghouti interview below-despite its fawning references to Arafat-a feeling of growing dissatisfaction with PA performance of many basic functions. –Michael Widlanski

Tuesday Morning Round-up Headlines, February 27

  • “The youth Hussam Imad al-Dis of Kalandia has joined the tribe of martyrs after being killed by shots to the chest by occupation soldiers;
  • The United Nations says the siege imposed by the Occupation is the worst since 1967;
  • The siege and the repressive Israeli measures as well as the ways to confront the aggression were the subject of the meeting between President Yasser Arafat and National Power Committee in Ramallah yesterday;
  • The present crisis is fraught with danger but it is impossible to accept resuming Palestinian-Israeli talks except from the point they (the talks) reached and an end to Israeli measure and siege: that is what Ahmad Qreia the speaker of the Legislature says in an interview with us;
  • The Israeli labor Party decides to join the Likud government. ;
  • The European Union calls for an end to the Israeli siege and to immediately transfer funds to the (Palestinian) National Authority;
  • UNRWA–the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (that administers refugee camps)-asserts the crisis’s danger to the refugees, and it calls for increasing assistance to them.”

Tuesday Morning Headlines, February 27, 7 a.m. / 8 a.m. / 9 a.m.

  • “The martyring of the youth Hussam Imad-al-Din al-Disi, 15 years old, hit by bullets in the heart fired by one of the Occupation soldiers in one of the confrontations witnessed in the Kalandia Camp, at the northern entrance to Jerusalem;
  • Six youths injured by Israeli occupation bullets in the town of Dir al-Nidam in the district of Ramallah and el-Bireh;
  • Settlers attack the two youths Shadi al-Hufash and Wazim al-Hufash on their way to Salfit;
  • Israeli occupation forces arrest two citizens-one in the Karameh crossing and one in Salfit;
  • National Security Force base in Jalbalya Camp is subjected to bombardment by an Israeli Apache helicopter;
  • His Excellency President Yasser Arafat receives members of the Sharm al-Sheikh arts group at his presidential headquarters in Ramallah.;
  • Mr. Nabil Abu-Irdeineh, President Arafat’s advisor, denies that American Secretary of State Colin Powell set any conditions to President Yasser Arafat concerning resumption of Palestinian-Israeli talks;
  • The United Nations in a decision says the lock-down of Palestinian territory for the last five months is the worst since the year 1967;
  • Palestinian delegates to the European Union say the Union today will be sending a high-level mission to study the Palestinian financial situation;
  • The Labor Party Center last night approved joining a government headed by Likud leader Ariel Sharon [Note: “extremist” not included in job title this time), and Home Rule Minister Saeb Erikat says this is an internal Israeli matter;
  • European Union foreign minister urge sending funds to the National Authority.;
  • Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal says after a meting with the American secretary of state that Saudi Arabia and the United States had agreed on a new look at the sanctions imposed on Iraq over the last ten years.”

Quote of the Day

“Our people will persevere and continue in its intifada, our resistance, until the end of Occupation and the carrying-out of freedom and independence.” From morning interview with Marwan Barghouti, Fatah secretary for West Bank-February 27, 7:23 a.m.

Quotes from Interview with Marwan Barghouti, PA West Bank Fatah secretary, interviewed by Rashid Hilal, V.O.P. Ramallah correspondent, February 27, 7:15-7:25

“The representatives of Palestinian power at the meeting (in Ramallah with Arafat) expressed their happiness at this meeting with his excellency, after a long period-due to the circumstances, after a long cut-off. The Brother, the president [note: an affectionate reference to Arafat), after his meeting with Palestinian power representatives in the Gaza Strip told the meeting of the representatives of Palestinian Power at the meeting with his excellency the president that because of the circumstances that we all see that the national and Islamic forces are guardians of the Revolution.

The representatives of power listened to his excellency’s explanation of the political and economic situation and the political developments and the subjects of the Intifada, stressing the steadfastness of our people and lauding the extraordinary steadfastness in the face of siege and aggression against our people, and the assassinations and so forth. (He) underlined that the Leadership is clinging to the national principles of the Palestinians and at the same time not forgetting the Palestinian negotiating conditions.

The other thing is that he (Arafat) listened in a complete way to the observations of the representatives of the power centers who spoke of the political situation and the negotiations and discussed their observations of the internal situation in the Palestinian National Authority. Also they presented to his excellency the president the need for unification of decisions for treatment of the compelling problems in the internal situation.due to a worsening in the internal Palestinian front. And everyone said we need Palestinian unity under the leadership of President Yasser Arafat.”

Question: “Israel is escalating its aggressive practices against our people, and recently this escalation has increased. How do you react to these arbitrary Israeli practices?”

Answer: “Israeli aggression continues.to try to pressure the performance of the Intifada which is registered in the hearts of the sons of our Palestinian people, in an attempt to thwart the path of history and fate. All this is an attempt. But we are not afraid of tanks and bombardments. And even if the fatal siege continues against our people, and no matter what the achievements of the assassination policy with which they threaten morning and night, and while they are continuing with these crimes, and imposing detentions and the like on the Palestinian people, well, our people will persevere and continue in its intifada, our resistance until the end of Occupation and the carrying-out of freedom and independence..”

Question: “What do you say about the official threats and the threats against his excellency the president?”

Answer: “Since the beginning of the aggression there have been threats and since the election of Sharon there has been an increase in threats among those who surround Sharon, really, from his advisors and from representatives of the settlers against the heads of the Intifada and against the leadership of the National Authority, first of all against the Brother, the president, Yasser Arafat. That is part of the operational environment of the Israelis.

And we say that these threats do not hurt our people. Our people is united, is unified behind its leadership and its (Palestinian National) Authority. And the National and Islamic forces as well as the institutions are not frightened by such threats. And through this we see The Rulers of Tel Aviv revealing themselves, and first among them Sharon.”

Quotes from Interview with Ahmad Qreia (a.k.a. Abu Ala), PA Legislature speaker

Question: “What do you make of the visit of Colin Powell?”

Answer: “I was not surprised, and no one was surprised by the sense of importance (given to the visit) by Mr. Powell. Even before his visit, he said he was coming to listen to the parties in the region before applying the American role in the region. And he listened seriously, I can say, with great interest, to the Palestinian position expressed to him by President Arafat in a clear way.. What the meaning of this violence and aggression is to our people. And this aggression has to stop.”

Question: “Yes?”

Answer: On the political question, he heard the Palestinian position clearly, a position based on international legitimacy, based on United nations resolutions and the Security Council-242 and 338 and the exchange of territory for peace. Also there was the stressing that any negotiations have to begin at the point where they left off.”

(Qreia seemed cautious in his interview not to attack the new Bush Administration, which, he said, had “a new working approach” and “a new style.”)

State of Israel Does Not Appear on a UN Map of the Holy Land

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

March 1, 2001 Hatzofeh
The UN financed a Palestinian tourist map of the Holy Land that does not name the State of Israel, and the entire center of the country, excepting Gaza and Samaria, is represented as being unsettled.

The only Jewish communities that appear on this map are cited with their Arabic names, such as el-Hadarat (Hadera), Ramle, Askelan (Ashkelon), Ashdout (Ashdod) and Tal Arabe (Tel Aviv).

The map was discovered by a journalist, David Bedein, from the Israel Resource News Agency. The bottom of the map notes that its production was financed by the UN’s Development Department, whose offices are located on Yaakobi Street, West Jerusalem. One of the UN officials in the office confirmed to Bedein that the map’s production had been financed by his department. But the official and his secretary later denied they had had any knowledge of the project.

Emanuel Nahshon, a deputy-spokesman in the Foreign Ministry, told Hatzofe yesterday that this map was part of the Palestinian propaganda that was geared to eradicate the State of Israel and delegitimize it.

He said the Foreign Ministry could only express regret that the UN had financed a project whose goal it was to turn the State of Israel into a white blotch on the map. […]

Official PA radio news – P.B.C. V.O.P. (Voice of Palestine) Radio: February 26. The “Welcome” of Threats Offered by the P.A. to Colin Powell

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

Summary and Analysis
Powell Welcomed with Threats

Against the backdrop of the visit of Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Palestinian Authority renewed its demand that the United States take a greater role in Palestinian-Israeli talks based on total Israeli withdrawal and the Palestinian right of return. These points were stressed in quotations from Yasser Arafat, his spokesman Nabil Abu Irdeineh, PLO Executive Secretary Mahmoud Abbas and PA Home Minister Saeb Erikat-as well as a major morning interview by Ta’ib Abd al-Rahim, the PA Presidential secretary (see interview below).

At the same time, V.O.P. did not really downplay its criticism of the U.S. for being pro-Israeli, though it did soft-pedal-for one day at least– PA calls for a greater role by Europe, Russia and the United Nations. Nevertheless, PA parliamentary speaker Ahmad Qreia was quoted as saying that if the PA did not get satisfaction in from the Bush Administration, it would turn to the UN sponsor rather than the American Administration. V.O.P. itself referred to the remarks of Qreia (a.k.a. Abu Ala) as “tahdid”-a threat. But an even more pronounced threat was stated in the featured morning interview with one of Arafat’s top advisors, PA Presidential Secretary Taib Abd-al-Rahim, who said that unless the Palestinians achieved “a just solution”-including a return of refugees-there would be no regional stability and no safeguarding American regional interests.

Despite the strictures of Arab hospitality, V.O.P. felt no compunctions about using its microphones to encourage Palestinians to demonstrate against American policies regarding Israel and Iraq (see Quote of the Day).

In addition to criticism of the U.S. and Israel, the PA is becoming more vocally critical of its Arab and Islamic allies for not turning more funds over to it for Intifada support. And in his interview, Abd al-Rahim actually says the Muslim sponsors are “completing the Israeli siege.”

Quote of the Day

“The National and Islamic forces call for expressing today as a day of protest against the prejudiced American policy for Israel and hostile to Iraq.”
From the V.O.P. morning headlines at and 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., several hours before Yasser Arafat hosted Colin Powell in Ramallah

Sunday Morning Round-up Headlines

  • “His Excellency President Yasser Arafat will meet in Ramallah with the head of American diplomacy, Colin Powell, in his first foreign and Middle Eastern leg (jawla, in Arabic, literally, session);
  • The Palestinian Leadership will show Mr. Powell the lines of the Palestinian positions from the negotiations with Israel calling for complete Israeli withdrawal according to the two resolutions 242 and 338 and the return of the refugees and their restoration (to their homes) according to resolution 194;
  • President Arafat says he will demand of Powell that America enlarge its role in the peace process.;
  • Mr. Mahmound Abbas, (a.k.a.) Abu-Mazen, the secretary of the PLO Executive, says that the Israeli withdrawal must be to the lines of June 4, 1967 and that this means the withdrawal from occupied Arab Jerusalem and the demarcation of boundaries between Palestine and Israel;
  • In its meeting, the (Palestinian) leadership asserts the need for Palestinian-Israeli talks to continue from the point at which they left off, and it refused to deal with partial agreements, calling for concentrating on sticking to Israeli execution of its obligations under earlier undertakings;
  • And on the internal level, Israeli occupation forces continue their arbitrary practices, wounded several at various locations in the homeland yesterday;
  • And the sons of our people in Hebron will commemorate the seventh memorial anniversary of the massacre committed in the Ibrahimi Mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs) by the extremist settler Baruch Goldstein, against the rights of our citizens to pray;
  • The Palestinian pilgrims end their blessed pilgrimage today in good health, praise God.”

Morning Headlines, 7 a.m. / 8 a.m. / 9 a.m.

  • “The ferocious occupation attack on our people continues at various points in Palestinian territory, and the Khader township was witness to violent confrontations between citizens and occupation soldiers who used various weapons to wound 14 youths, on seriously;
  • One youth was wounded in Nahalin by settlers of Beitar which was built on land taken from Nahalin, and two people were wounded in confrontations in Hebron;
  • His Excellency President Yasser Arafat will meet in Ramallah today with Secretary of State Colin Powell, and the meeting will revolve around the political developments and events in Palestinian lands in the shadow of the Israeli attack on our people. And President Arafat’s advisor Nabil Abu Irdeineh asserts that the Palestinian Authority will demand a vigorous American role to revive the peace process;
  • Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Musa says that President Husni Mubarak’s meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell revolved around all the bilateral and regional issues, and Powell said he discussed with President Mubarak the Palestinian-Israeli situation.confirming the American Administration’s commitment to work for an agreement based on resolutions 242 and 338;
  • And Powell will meet with the Israeli prime minister-elect, Ariel Sharon, to discuss the Palestinian situation and the Iraqi situation, as well as to prepare for Sharon’s trip to Washington next month;
  • The National and Islamic forces call for expressing today as a day of protest against the prejudiced American policy for Israel and hostile to Iraq.”

Secong Quote of the Day

“It is the Israeli side that has escalated the violence”

Quotes from Interview with Ta’ib Abd-al-Rahim, PA Presidential Secretary

Question: “What is required of the new Administration?”

Answer: “There is no question that what is required of them, as a new administration, is a re-statement of their commitment to the source authority, resolutions 242 and 338, as well as resolution 194 (Note: which speaks of return of the Palestinian refugees) as an international expression. In addition, they are required to tell the Israeli side to carry out the registered agreements between us and the Israeli side, as well lifting the siege from the Palestinian people in all its forms and stopping the deliberate escalation in violent acts against Palestinian citizens. There is no doubt that this visit is a learning tour to size up the position. I believe that.the Palestinian matter is central to the Middle East question. And without a doubt there cannot be security nor stability nor moderation nor protection of American interests in the region without a solution to the root cause of the conflict and that is a solution to the Palestinian matter-a just solution.

We from our point of view-certainly his excellency the president (i.e. Arafat) we have reached a number of agreements with the Israeli side, and we are ready for the choice of peace and the choice for negotiations. We are committed to the registered agreements [Note: in Arabic, Abd-al-Rahim and other PA officials are using the term waqa’na or muwaqa’a a second form Arabic verb of the root WQ’A which can be creatively construed to mean “to undertake” or “to discharge” or “to carry out” or “to register” or “to perform.” This creative ambiguity in the Arabic term allows the PA speakers to contend that they have registered agreements when there were unsigned understandings or partial agreements.]

We are also committed to continuing the agreements with the new Israeli a government after it is formed and to enter into the matter of the final solution [Arabic: al-hal al-nihai’ii, is the term he used, and it is not an editorial comment by the translator] where we left off, whether it be in Taba or any place else.”

Question: “The question is whether there is not a certain strangeness to this Palestinian demand, because why did these understandings NOT reach (full) agreements?”

Answer: “Really, the former Israeli prime minister was not serious about reaching agreements. There was time pressure. Although some members of the government (i.e. Barak government) were serious about reaching agreement in Taba when entered into the depths the matter of reaching a final solution. But Barak opposed this and blocked an agreement.”

Question: “Is it possible that the negotiations will move from this point to a point where they will be internationalized (Arabic: tadweel) and brought to the United Nations?”

Answer: “We demand that the negotiations proceed with the new government after it is formed from the point at which they (the talks) ended in Taba. And there is no question but that there was progress in Taba..Our demand that the talks proceed from they left off is an expression of right and seriousness in the peace process. Barak’s comment that nothing but a dream remains of the understandings in Taba is something. stands in the face of all norms, all customs and international laws. That is very dangerous..The Americans are witnesses to the talks.. We cannot go back to square one..And we say that an isolation of the United States from the peace process is a..return to violence and instability. If the new American administration is serious, and it is a partner to the Geneva proposals of the 90’s, then it has to bring other international sponsors into the peace process to help it (the U.S.) to succeed with the process. To bring in Europe, to bring in the United Nations, to bring in Arab parties such as Egypt and Jordan and others, so that we can move the peace process forward. Without these partners, I am concerned that the process will be incomplete.”

Question: “Ariel Sharon says that there will no negotiations until-as he says-there will be a stopping of violence. What is your reaction?”

Answer: “There is no doubt that his excellency the president initiated sending letter to Sharon after his election success (NOTE: this is probably the first prominent mention of such a letter on V.O.P.) stating our commitment to the peace process and the source authority of the peace process, resolution 242 and 338 and 194 especially with respect to the refugees. And he (Arafat) said our hand is extended to continue the process, to carry out the registered agreements and to pursue a complete solution. And Sharon responded to his excellency the president-also with a letter-asserting his commitment to the source authority of the peace process 242 and 338 and agreeing to carry out all agreements..But I have to say that Sharon according to our information in our hands is ready for relaxation (i.e. easing the siege and economic strictures) in return for what he calls a stopping of the violence. But violence is what is practiced by the Israeli side. It is the side that escalates violence.”

Question: “What about the Arab assistance to us? Only a small portion has reached us. What is the cause?”

Answer: “It appears that it is a political decision taken against us, it is clear. We have been told by the International Bank (sic) that, and that is what President Arafat was told in Davos. Unfortunately, the Islamic Bank is completing the policy of siege that is practiced against us by the Israeli side. Our people are in need of steadfastness. They do not want to get rich by the Intifada and they do not want to glorify the martyrs only. Nor do they want to glorify the steadfast struggle of our people. They want support for the steadfast resistance.”

Official PA radio news: Not to Open Fire on Israeli Targets from Inside. P.B.C. V.O.P. (Voice of Palestine) Radio: February 23rd – 24th

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

Friday Afternoon Summary and Analysis, February 23

In its Friday 4 p.m. afternoon broadcast, V.O.P. relayed the instructions of the Fatah movement not to open fire on Israeli targets from inside residential areas. As in several similar calls over recent months, the Fatah call is not a call for non-violence but rather a directive for controlled violence against Israeli targets.

Indeed, the Fatah committee’s statement was nothing less than a full-fledged declaration of continued armed Palestinian attacks until Intifada goals are realized.

Friday Afternoon Four p.m., February 23 Round-up Headlines

  • “The martyring of Ra’id Hussein Musa, hit by fire in his chest;
  • Occupation crimes continue against our people across the homeland;
  • Occupation forces bombard with heavy guns and artillery the houses of citizens in Muassy in southern Gaza this morning;
  • In Hebron, occupation forces invaded the town of Tsurif and arrested three citizens;
  • The Supreme Movement Committee of the Fatah Movement in the (West) Bank calls for not firing on israeli targets from within residential neighborhoods so as not to give cause to the occupation authorities cause to continue their crimes against the rights of our people. The Supreme Committee said our people will not give up their means and capabilities through a continuing Intifada until the realization of national goals. Fatah called for the need to fulfill this commitment not only as a movement goal but also as a national imperative;
  • His Excellency President Arafat arrived in Athens today.His Excellency will be visiting Austria tomorrow.to call for a greater European role in the peace process.;
  • The National Authority warned against an attempt by Israel to try to wrest any part of sovereign Palestinian territory. The Cabinet secretary Ahmad Abd-al-Rahman said any such attempt would cost Israel dearly.The cabinet secretary criticized the statement of President George Bush regarding Iraq.and he said American prejudice towards Israel was encouraging its aggression against our people;
  • Public opinion poll across various parts of the homeland shows strong support for continuing the Intifada. Seventy-two percent favor continuing the Intifada, while only one point four percent oppose the Intifada. [Note: poll does not mention undecided or number of those polled or who conducted poll];
  • Iraqi Foreign Ministry director Nizar Hamdoun said Iraq expects another American-British attack on its territory soon.;
  • Egyptian newspapers published today criticized America’s Middle East policies on the eve of the visit of Secretary of State Colin Powell;
  • Yemeni police report that five people were killed in clashes related to local elections.;
  • British Prime Minister Tony Blair held his first summit with President George Bush in Washington today.”

Saturday Morning Summary, February 24

V.O.P. set the stage for the Powell visit with continued coverage of Palestinian-Israeli clashes and a call for greater American role, especially to press Israel for concessions. There was again coverage of alleged Israeli use of various gases in fighting in Khan Yunis.

V.O.P. quoted Palestinian officials condemning massive Israeli violence that has led to more than 400 dead civilians and more than 20,000 wounded according to the PA’s figures.

V.O.P. re-broadcast portions of Friday morning’s interview with Ahmad Abd-al-Rahman warning that any Israeli invasion of PA territory “would not be an outing.”

Saturday Morning Headlines, February 24

  • Masses of our people in Bethlehem will escort the exalted martyr Ra’id Hussein Mahmoud Musa from al-Khader struck by fire in the chest;
  • The vicious Israeli attack against our people continues, as does the military and economic siege.”

7 a.m. / 8 a.m. / 9 a.m. News Bulletin Headlines

  • ” Masses of our people in Bethlehem today will escort the exalted martyr, the youth, Ra’id Hussein Mahmoud Musa, 17 years old, who was struck in the heart by occupation fire in al-Khader;
  • 17 wounded in occupation attacks in al-Khader, el-Breh, Jenin and Hebron;
  • His Excellency President Yasser Arafat arrives today in Amman, heading from Athens after a European round in Austria and Greece.;
  • PLO Executive Secretary Mahmound Abbas-Abu Mazen-accuses Israel has poisoned the atmosphere and escalated the Intifada.;
  • Israel prevents a parliamentary delegation headed by Salim Za’anoun from visiting Abu Dhabi.;
  • Israeli press sources say Israeli Housing Ministry is slated to build 700 new settlement units in colony Psagot near the city of Ramallah;
  • American State Department to publish on Monday its human rights world report. And press sources say.it will criticize Israeli violations of human rights in Palestinian territories;
  • American Secretary of State Colin Powell visits Cairo today in a Middle Eastern tour including five capitals.;
  • Israeli Broadcasting says the Labor Party has agreed to conditions of rightist parties to enter Sharon Government, giving up demand for ministry of finance;
  • Russian foreign Ministry considers American attack on Iraq a violation of UN decisions;
  • 13 killed in Algerian massacre.”

Official Palestinian Authority statement on the eve of Sec, of State Colin Powell’s visit

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

For several days now, the news published in the world about the devastating effects of the Israeli siege imposed upon the Palestinian occupied territory have served to forge a new discourse: it has become the chronicle of an announced death, and commentators and analysts, some to warn and prevent, others to speculate on an aftermath, all announce the imminent collapse of the Palestinian national institutions and the instoration of “anarchy”.

On the Israeli side, one can understand the function of such a description: this is mostly wishful colonial thinking. There are those, among Israeli leaders, and among the journalists who echo their aspirations, who hope we’ll disappear. Who hope we’ll no longer be there, neither to resist, nor to negotiate, leaving them with no interlocutors at all, or with some alternative radical-religious leadership unknown to the international community, and which will, just like the Israeli government, refuse to “negotiate under fire”, that is to say refuse to negotiate under occupation, settlement and aggression.

It is true, as UNSCO Special Commissioner Tarjie Larsen rightly emphasized, in his Gaza Press Conference last week, that the economic blockade and total closure imposed upon the Palestinian people, the disruption of economic activity and the spectacular rise in unemployment, the cut in supplies in numerous fields of production and consumption and all the side-effects of the siege have brought our nascent economy down on its knees, and that it will take a long time to rebuild that which has been destroyed. It is true that the cost of the so-called security measures, in fact measures of collective punishment, adopted by the occupyer is much greater than the sum total of international assistance to the Palestinian people for the same period. And it is also true that our institutions and administration are on the verge of total bankruptcy. And it is true that the international community should take the measure of the gravity of our situation, with all the risks it involves.

But we are far from anarchy. Not only because our civil society – from family structures to voluntary associations, from religious clubs to chambers of commerce – is as vigorous as ever, and determined to pursue its long march towards statehood; but also because our institutions were never given the chance or the time to develop as a separate realm from that of political decision-making organs.

Of course, we are also as far remote as we have ever been from a full-fledged state. Our authority, already limited within the framework of unimplemented interim agreements, is now daily undermined by the lack of mobility, and the gross violation, by occupation forces, of all agreements signed. There is, unfortunately, still no sovereign Palestinian State, and there can therefore be neither security, nor Rule of Law for the citizens. The Intifada itself manifests the intervention of the street — the rank and file of national organisations — in the thwarted political process, and its will to march, on its own, towards negotiations and independence. But all these conditions and hardship do not mean in any way that we’re “losing control”. For before being the government of a state-in-the-making, the PLO-PNA is a national liberation movement, and its authority derives primarily from its legitimacy.

The PLO has already crossed many deserts: from the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 to the Black September of 1970 and to the siege of Beirut, from the siege of Tripoli and the “camps war” in Lebanon to the first Intifada. The Palestinian people, for its part, has emerged from and survived to the total disaster of 1948. Anyone looking at this historical perpective can see that the trend is upwards, that the Palestinian people is in the process of reasserting its national existence on its land, as it clear that the colonial archaism prevailing among Israeli politicians is doomed.

Let no one be deluded. We will survive this phase.

It is however likely that, in spite of our absolute readiness to negotiate the just and durable peace for which we have opted, the new government of Israel, whetever the outcome of the present attempts to form a wide coalition, will not go back to the table before having attempted and failed to impose a military solution. Unfortunately, mankind only recurs to rational solutions when all others have failed, and it takes both intelligence and humility to acknowledge failure. Hence the question of the cost, and of the delay.

The equation which binds military escalation on the ground and international intervention remains in vigor, whatever the new government in Israel. The responsibility of the international community is therefore immense. Complacency here borders on complicity. We send our warmest greetings to the Government of Belgium, who spoke with remarkable clarity and frankness with Sharon’s special envoy. Give a chance and judge on the acts cannot mean become ignorant, oblivious of past experience and hopelessly naïve.

After the cloud and smoke dissipates, and when the demagogic slogans of the Israeli war-mongers are drowned in their own failure, negotiations will resume. We’ll be worse off than today, our societies and opinions crippled and embittered, and legitimately angry at all the time and suffering gone by. But there will be no other way than to go back to international legality. Go back to UN Resolutions 242 and 338, the basic terms of reference of the Madrid Conference. Go back to the 1993 Declaration of Principles, and demand its implementation on the basis of Security Council Resolution 904, of February 1994. To Wye River, to Sharm El Sheikh 1 and 2. To Security Council resolution 242 (Inadmissibility of acquisition of territory by war) for the territory, to SC Resolution 338 (International Conference) for the mechanism, to the UN as a framework. After all, if, according to the new US administration, it is no longer appropriate to speak of the “peace process”, there is no more obstacle to replacing the whole negotiating process, and the efforts of the international community, within the UN framework.

Until then, and so that it can happen, several misconceptions must be dissipated:

  1. About negotiations and Israeli “generosity”: the percentage game in which Israeli negotiators have constantly indulged (90%, 94%, 96%, etc…) is meant to hide the simple fact that while negotiating on a mere 22% of the territory of historical, or Mandatory, Palestine, the occupyier wants to annex yet another fraction of the Land. There is no generosity in the offer to restitute 90% of 22% of a land wholly acquired by force.
  2. About Jerusalem and the Haram El Sharif: the Israeli insistence on sovereignty on the Haram El Sharif, unprecedented in the history of the conflict, makes any agreement on Jerusalem impossible. As a Holy Site, the Haram belongs to all Arabs, and to all Moslems, and they have all made it abundantly clear to the world that nobody was entitled to give it up.
  3. About the Right of Return: the right of all refugees to return to their homeland is a basic principle of international law. It is recognized everywhere. Resolution 194 was adopted in December 1948 to embody the recognition of this right for Palestinian refugees. There is no way to negotiate flexible and creative arrangements to solve this problem without starting with a solemn recognition of this right.
  4. About settlements and settlers: settlement and settlers are illegal. Their function is a military aggressive one, they are all at once conceptual, political and physical obstacles to peace. They must be removed, so as to allow for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state enjoying territorial continuity.
  5. About “violence” as an abstract, metaphysical category. There is a fundamental difference between the violence of occupation (military presence and coercion, control and repression) and colonization (armed robbery of the land) and that of the popular upheaval, which, on the whole, is both reactive and defensive. This qualitative difference condemns all symmetrical appeals to restore calm to inefficiency, or even to irrelevance. The Intifada will not stop until the Palestinian people see something moving on the ground.

    In the meantime, Israeli military aggression against our people goes on: siege, shelling, assassinations go on. The whole idea of peace has been made into a sinister joke, reconciliation has become the name of an abstract paradox. It is also the responsibility of the world as a whole to see to it that this spiral is stopped, and to help us put an end to this conflict.

Libelous Allegations Against Israel in the Palestinian Authority

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

Libels, lies, and false accusations against Israel and Jews are frequent, prominent components of the Palestinian leadership’s public discourse and in the Palestinian media. Suha Arafat’s accusation, made while standing next to Hillary Clinton, that Israel was poisoning Palestinians was consistent with standard Palestinian libels.

The quantity and intensity of these libels have increased lately with the aim of presenting Israel and Jews as evil, treacherous enemies that pose a mortal danger to the Palestinians, to Islam, and to all that is holy to them. The intent of this campaign is to intensify the hostile atmosphere toward Israel and is consistent with the Palestinian Authority’s policy of fostering hatred toward Israel.

Yasser Arafat, at the recent Davos Economic Forum, called on the international community to protect the Palestinians from Israeli actions, including the use of tanks, combat helicopters, and machine guns against Palestinian children. He also asserted that Israel is using ammunition tipped with depleted uranium and other prohibited weapons.

In a sequel to Suha Arafat’s accusations, the Palestinian Authority’s newspapers reported again about gas poisonings:

“Medical sources reported yesterday evening that more than 40 residents were injured in a strange occurrence of hysteria and nervous collapse as a result of their inhaling poison gas, fired for the first time by the Israeli occupation forces on defenseless residents. Medical specialists are of the opinion that it is nerve gas, prohibited by international law. [Al Ayyam, 13 February 2000, and a similar report in Al Quds]

Two other recent Palestinian “medical” reports:

“Senior medical sources related yesterday that the occupation forces used a new kind of lethal bullets against innocent residents. The new bullets have sharp metal wings and they fly at great speeds.” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, 28 October 2001]

“Authoritative medical sources revealed that there is an increase in the average number of deformed births in the Shafaa hospital in Gaza. They do not deny the possibility that this phenomenon is associated with depleted uranium.” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, 31 January 2001]

There is of course no basis to any of this. Not only has the Israeli Army categorically refuted the allegations, but it is clear that these claims are in the same category as the Palestinian libel that Israel infected Palestinians with AIDS.

The Palestinians often issue false statements contradicting even publicly known facts. The entire world saw the televised destruction of Joseph’s Tomb by Palestinian mobs and police. Yet the Palestinians reported the event as follows:

“Yesterday, the City of Nablus began the rehabilitation and renovation of the demolished parts of ‘Joseph’s Tomb’. It is important to note that heavy damage was caused to the tomb and to a large number of nearby structures during these disturbances, in the wake of the shootings by the occupation forces which are concentrated on Mounts Grizim and Eival, and because of their use of heavy machine guns.” [Al Ayyam, 10 October 2000]

The big lie, stated consistently in reports on the continuing violence, is the continuous portrayal of Israel as the attacker and the Palestinians as the defenders, in news accounts of shooting incidents. They also attribute to Israel sophisticated plots:

The permanent [Palestinian] Military Court in Hebron sentenced the [Palestinian] officer Hassan Massalem, 55, yesterday morning to death by firing squad. The military prosecutor accused Massalem with conspiring with Israeli intelligence. and with firing a pistol from the Hebron neighborhood of Al Sheikh toward Israeli positions on orders of his Israeli controllers, in order to give the occupation soldiers a pretext for massively shelling the residential neighborhood.” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, 12 February 2001]

The portrayal of Israel as wanting to expand to occupy all the Arab states is a common lie. This is exemplified in a particularly venomous video clip entitled This is How they Humiliated My Mother that began airing recently. A teacher is depicted in the video clip with a classroom of Jewish children wearing kippot (religious skullcaps) in front of the Israeli flag, teaching: “The Land of Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates”. [Palestinian Television, 14 February 2001]. The video clip is shown as if were an actual classroom in a Jewish school. The actors speak Hebrew.

The denial of Jewish history and tradition with the goal of negating Israel’ s historical right to exist, is policy within the Palestinian Authority’s formal and informal educational frameworks. In textbooks and similarly in educational television broadcasts, the P.A.’s leadership and educators erase the entire Jewish past, denying Jewish presence in Jerusalem and the Land of Israel. The Palestinian go to especially great lengths to try to refute that Jerusalem is the site of the Temple.

Dr. Suliman Alshrafaa, a Palestinian academic who hosted the religious television program, Customs of Ramadan:

“We often hear those false claims of the Jews that their Temple Solomon’s Temple is located underneath the Al Aqsa mosque.. There is a professor by the name of Menachem Klein from Bar Ilan University, located in occupied Palestine [Ramat Gan, adjacent to Tel Aviv – Ed note] whose specialty is Jerusalem and argues that the false arguments according to which the Temple is located underneath Al Aqsa are indeed deeply rooted Jewish claims, but in truth it is envisioned that the third Temple in its entirety will descend from heaven after the coming of the Messiah. This is the truth. Klein argues that this is stated explicitly in Rashi’s commentary Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchak, the number one [Jewish] commentator on the Talmud on the Mishna in Sukkah, Chapter 40, side 1 [sic]. And so it is asserted by Rav Sa’adiah Ga’on, a native of Al Fahoum who headed the great Yeshiva in Iraq, commentator number two. Therefore, Rabbis maintained that it is totally incorrect that the Temple is underneath the Al Aqsa Mosque.. “. [Palestinian Television, 23 December 2000]

This week Sheikh Ikrama Sabri, the PA-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem, released a religious ruling, a “Fatwa”, denying the Jewish connection to the Kotel: “No stone of the Western Wall has any connection to Hebrew history.”

Recently the Mufti responded to a viewer’s question on TV as to why the Jews pray in the direction of the Al Aqsa Mosque, with the following distortion of Jewish tradition. He did not simply explain the truth – that the Jews are praying in the direction of the Western Wall of the destroyed Temple upon which the Muslims built the Mosque. Rather he stated that the Jews call the “Western Wall” the “Wailing Wall” and then creates a bizarre fantasy for their “wailing”:

“The Jews call this the Wailing Wall for two reasons. The first, the overt [reason] is that they cry because they lost one of the Ten Commandments [tablets], and they lie and claim that the Commandment [tablet] was lost in the area around Al Aqsa. This is why religious Jews are apprehensive of entering the Temple Mount, because of the fear that they might step on a paving stone underneath which may be the lost commandment [tablet]. The second reason, that is not openly stated is that the Jews cry, repent, and remonstrate before Allah that He chose Mohammed from among the Arabs and did not choose a [prophet] from among the Children of Israel. In Mohammed’s time the Jews thought that the final prophet would be a Jew, and they prepared themselves to receive him and they even threatened the Arabs and said to them that ‘When the new prophet comes, we’ll see what we will do to you’ and then the prophet turned up from among the Arabs and they (the Jews) became angry and bitter that he (Mohammed) is the prophet. What they are crying about is their protest ‘Why wasn’t the prophet [chosen] from among the Children of Israel, as they had anticipated.” [Palestinian Television, 11 January 2001]

This distortion is part of the continuing attack on Jewish tradition by the Mufti who, a few months ago, said:

“There is not a single stone in Palestine that proves the [historical] Jewish existence [in the land].” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, 15 October 2000]

Translated and adapted from the Hebrew by Hershel Ginsburg.

Palestinian Media Watch
59 King George St., Jerusalem, Israel
phone: 972- 2- 625-4140 fax: 972-2- 624-2803
for further information, contact PMW Director, Itamar Marcus
pmw@netvision.net.il
material may be quoted, citing PMW as the source

Official PA radio news: EDICT: WESTERN WALL FORBIDDEN TO JEWS

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

Friday Summary and Analysis

In its Friday broadcasts, V.O.P. continued several major trends that have emerged during the week:

  • emphasizing the brutal and “CRIMINAL” escalation by Israel that is killing Palestinian civilians and decimating the Palestinian economy;
  • pushing Arafat to the front of the internal Palestinian stage again;
  • urging outside intervention by Europe and the United Nations against Israel-both as a direct threat to Israel (war crimes tribunal) but also to signal that the Palestinian Authority has other options outside the United States (which it views as pro-Israeli and anti-Iraqi);
  • and re-stating that there will be no peace for Israel or the Palestinians until all demands are met, including full Israeli withdrawal, Arab sovereignty over Jerusalem and its holy places, and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

In a featured morning interview, PA Cabinet Secretary Ahmad Abd-al-Rahman warned that any military intervention inside PA territory by Israeli forces would “cost Israel dearly.” The comments by Abd-al-Rahman, one of Yasser Arafat’s closest advisors, were re-broadcast throughout the day’s headlines. Abd-al-Rahman and other PA officials (such as Tawfik Tirawi) throughout the week directly threatened Israel with serious military and political consequences ranging from escalating Intifada to counter-assassinations of Israeli officials. Abd-al-Rahman also stressed that one of the Intifada’s goals was to make the continued existence of the settlers untenable, and he noted that the Intifada had succeeded in throwing the settlers into “a complete state of panic.”

V.O.P. broadcast prominently Thursday remarks by an Egyptian Islamic cleric, the Mufti Sheikh Nasser Farid Wasil to the effect that “the Western neighborhood of the Sacred Shrine (a.k.a. Noble Sanctuary/ Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif) is the property of the Muslims, and it is forbidden to designate it as the Wailing Wall.” In other words, the Western Wall of the Temple Mount is NOT ONLY NOT JEWISH PROPERTY, BUT IT IS FORBIDDEN EVEN TO REFER TO IT IN A WAY THAT MIGHT SUGGEST SOME JEWISH CONNECTION TO THE SITE. “And the Sheikh said that the Buraq Wall is the western portion of the blessed Al Aqsa Compound, and there can be NO RECOGNITION OF ANY JEWISH PROPERTY CLAIM TO SUCH A WALL,” V.O.P. quoted from the cleric’s statement. “Because,” the statement quoted by V.O.P. continued, “the placing of any hand by Israeli authorities on the wall is the exercise of sacerdotal functions by Israeli occupation which opposes international legitimacy no matter what amount of time has evolved.”

The second part of the quotation seems to make two points:

  • it recalls the findings of a British Mandate-appointed commission on May 19, 1931, giving Jews limited access and Muslim authorities ultimate control over the Western Wall;
  • it attacks the practice of Israeli politicians-and Jews generally-of praying at and touching the wall, as both Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon did the morning after their respective election victories in 1999 and 2001.

V.O.P. followed the Egyptian cleric’s words with a re-broadcast of a similar ruling last week by (PA-salaried) Jerusalem mufti Sheikh Ikrema al-Sabry that “the Buraq wall is an inseparable part of the Al Aqsa Mosque, and he said that referring to it as ‘haram al-mabka’ (Arabic translation: The Wailing Wall) was forbidden to Muslims..His Authority the Sheikh said Muslims should refer to the site as the Buraq Wall.”

(NOTE: “Buraq” is a reference to the mythic steed of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad. According to legends developed many years after Muhammad’s death, the verses in the Quran describing Muhammad’s mystical night journey from the “mosque of holiness” to the “farthest mosque” (al-Aqsa in Arabic”) were a reference to a journey atop a winged horse-donkey to Jerusalem’s “Al Aqsa” mosque, which was conquered, built and named well after Muhammad-who never left Arabia-died. The legends were developed by various Islamic rulers ranging from Abd-al-Malik to Salah al-din (Saladin) with an eye to buttressing their own power and Muslim defense of Jerusalem, especially against Crusaders. Islamic scholars say that the “Buraq” character is actually heavily influenced by the earlier Jewish messianic theme of “soosya barqa” (Hebrew/Aramaic: the horse or donkey Barka or Barqa) upon whose back the Messiah is expected to arrive. Those wishing to examine the exegesis of the themes may look at The Shorter Encyclopedia of Islam by H.A.R. Gibb and J.H. Kramers, p. 65 as well as other entries in same and The Encyclopedia Britannica as well as the writings of Professors S.D. Goitein and H. Lazarus-Yaffe.)

Friday Morning Headlines, February 23, 8 a.m. / 9 a.m.

“Israeli bombardment of inhabited neighborhood in Beit Sahur in Bethlehem district and Zababdeh township near Jenin;

  • In Jericho, shelling of security forces in ‘Auja;
  • His Excellency President Yasser Arafat asserts that the peace process in the Middle East needs the powerful push of the European Union;
  • The Egyptian realm’s Mufti said the Sacred Shrine (Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount) is the property of Muslims and should not be designated the Wailing Wall; [NOTE: this item shows a favorite V.O.P. technique-using the words of someone else to further its own point of view.

This is particularly true when the remarks are so extreme in tone that if any PA official said them, it would embarrass the PA. By using a quotation from someone else, V.O.P. encourages the content of the message while the PA enjoys plausible deniability];

American and British planes bombard last night -and for the second time this week-targets in northern Iraq;

The formation of a new government in Sudan.”

Quote of the Day

“I say that the Israelis will not reach security without peace. Security for them will only be realized through peace and that means withdrawing their army and the settlers from Palestinian lands..

It should be clear that for the last five months that Israeli presence, occupation, Israeli settlement in Palestinian lands will not return to being an outing but a different existence, a tearful existence. That is what the Palestinian confrontation is making firm to Israelis every day.” (Ahmad Abd-al-Rahman, PA Cabinet secretary, featured interviewee on Friday Morning Dialogue, 8:20 a.m.)

Quotes from Interview with Ahmad Abd-al-Rahman (8:40-8:50 a.m.)

Question: “Some Israeli officers are speaking of re-conquering some territories controlled by the Palestinian National Authority. Mr. Abd-al-Rahman what to do you say about the calls of some Israeli officers to re-conquer some Palestinian areas?”

Answer: “First of all, I want to say that the present situation in Israel is a worrisome situation. Because some of the Israeli adventurers and extremists have reached decision-making positions. And all possibilities are open to this group of extremists who issue statements without taking account, and who are presenting avenues of action that are very dangerous for the Palestinian people. In any event, these statements and these Israeli threats will not be carried out easily. Entry to Palestinian territory will not be a pleasure trip (or outing). It should be clear that for the last five months that Israeli presence, occupation, Israeli settlement in Palestinian lands will not return to being an outing but a different existence, a tearful existence. That is what the Palestinian confrontation is making firm to Israelis every day.

And the Israeli government in pushing forward military solutions, occupation operations, military raids on some locations, use of helicopters, it is clear that none of this will be a cakewalk or an outing. They will pay a price for every attack against the Palestinian people.”

Question: “What about special units executing assassination operations in Palestinian territory?”

Answer: “They brag about this, saying (it) all day long to strengthen the sense of importance of the Israeli settlers. And as you know the settlers have become thrown into a complete state of panic during the Intifada which our Palestinian people have confronted them in all areas, to harry the settlers from the Palestinian territories.And naturally, by necessity, the Occupation authorities are looking for any means to give the settlers security. But the Palestinian people will continue day after day..”

Question: “All of what you have said leads to increasing escalation by the Israeli Occupation, and how will this affect the arrival of Colin Powell in the region, and the American efforts in the peace process?”

Answer: “Really, all that the Israeli government does is a continuous strategy. But I say that Israel’s priority is not peace. Israel’s priority, as Sharon says, is security. But I say that the Israelis will not reach security without peace. Security for them will only be realized through peace and that means withdrawing their army and the settlers from Palestinian lands..All the things that President Bush said in his press conference about Iraq, about Iraq respecting its neighbors and so on. Well, why doesn’t he say something like that to the Israelis? Here is a clear American prejudice in favor of Israel. This same prejudice is what encourage the Israeli aggressors to continue their aggression.”

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