if you thought peace was at hand...think again...

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    An interesting insight into the thoinking and strategies of the Arab jihadist.

    Officials praise Arafat
    as 'jihad' warrior
    See translated Arabic TV clips of calls to eliminate Israel

    Following announcement of the death of Yasser Arafat last Thursday, Palestinian officials and leaders spoke candidly in Arabic-language television interviews of their continued commitment to "jihad," or holy war, and the elimination of Israel.

    On Al-'Alam TV in Iran, Friday, the Palestinian ambassador to Tehran, Salah Zawawi, praised Arafat as a "martyr" who understood it was only a matter of time before Israel would be eradicated. The video clip was recorded and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute TV Monitor Project, or MEMRI TV.

    "This man knew that this path is the path of martyrdom and jihad. He knew that this great cause requires martyrs, not leaders, who look after their personal future and not the nation's future," Zawawi said.


    Arafat "fought the jihad and we saw him in many battles," the amassador continued. "Sometimes he was right and sometimes he erred. And whenever he erred, we would tell him: this is a mistake. And whenever he was right we would praise him. And now he is gone.

    "If you ask me what will surely be the end of this Zionist entity, I will say to you that this entity will disappear one of these days," said Zawawi. "And its leaders, who can see what will be in the future, understand this. It's a matter of time."

    Hani Al-Hassan of the Fatah Central Committ­ee – the movement started by Arafat which launched the terrorist Al Aqsa Marytrs Brigades – made it clear that the purpose of "armed struggle," or terrorism, is to bring Israel and its allies to the negotiating table.

    "In Fatah we have a rule: The armed struggle sows and the political struggle reaps," he said on Al-Arabiya TV in Dubai Thursday. "He who doesn't sow doesn't reap, and he who sows and refuses to reap is a criminal."

    Arafat founded Fatah in 1959 – eight years before Israel acquired the disputed territories – with the stated objective of destroying Israel.

    Al-Hassan said that when the Oslo process in the 1990s did not bring results, "the sowing came in the form of the Intifada."

    "The question now is whether the current period is a stage of reaping or is it a stage of sowing," he said. "We think that the current period is a phase of sowing, until we see results in the international position."

    The Fatah leader noted a "change in the world."

    "Europe has changed and its position has become more clearly in our favor," he said. "America is bogged down in Iraq and doesn't know what to do."

    In an interview that day with the same Dubai station, Raid Al-Aidi, leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, called for directing the terrorist group's "painful blows" against Israel.

    "We call from here to all the heroes of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, throughout the homeland to oppose this occupier, and strike this occupier anywhere, with no holds barred," he said.

    After Arafat's death, the group renamed itself Yasser Arafat Martyrs Brigades.

    "We in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades will direct our painful blows against this monstrous entity," Al-Aidi continued. "The Palestinian state will be achieved only by strengthening the resistance, supporting the resistance, and the continuing the resistance, until this oppressing occupier leaves our land, since this occupier doesn't understand the language of peace or surrender."

    The terroist group's leader said Israel understands "only the language of gunfire and gun powder and we will teach this occupier, Allah willing, a lesson as we have taught it in the past, in Tel Aviv, Hadera, and everywhere."

    On Al-Manar TV in Lebanon, new Fatah leader Farouq Qaddumi said Arafat understood that resistance is the path to political settlement.

    Qaddumi interpreted a statement Arafat had made, "Don't let the olive branch fall from my hand."

    "He meant," said Qaddumi, "'I am ready for political negotiations, but if there are no political negotiations, we will continue carrying the gun.' This has been clear since 1974."
 
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