June 27, 1997
PLO cabinet minister Nabil Sha’ath has again publicly
defended Arab violence against Israelis. The Zionist Organization of
America (ZOA) is urging the Clinton administration to demand that PLO
Chairman Yasir Arafat fire Sha’ath from his cabinet.
In a June 16 interview with the Palestinian Arab newspaper Al
Ayyam, published in PLO-controlled Ramallah, Sha’ath said, “We cannot
prevent resistance operations against Israel’s bulldozers and onslaughts on
our lands.” He defended “those youths who confront Israeli bulldozers with
their bodies or stones.” Referring to the recent Arab mob attacks on
Israelis in Hebron, Sha’ath claimed, falsely, that Israel has been
“assaulting Palestinian citizens in Hebron.” This, he said, “clarifies the
question who is a terrorist. Is it he who resists the seizure of his land
or he who shoots at defenseless civilians?”
The ZOA noted that, ironically, Sha’ath is often described by the
media as a “moderate.” Yet Sha’ath has made numerous similar pro-violence
statements in recent years, including:
Other Recent Statements by Nabil Sha’ath
- “If the negotiations reach a dead end, we shall go back to the
struggle and strife, as we did for 40 years. It is not beyond our
capabilities. As long as Israel goes forward, there will be no
problems…But if and when Israel will say, ‘That’s it, we won’t talk about
Jerusalem, we won’t return refugees, we won’t dismantle settlements and we
won’t retreat from borders,’ then all the acts of violence
will return. Except that this time we’ll have 30,000
armed Palestinian soldiers who will operate in areas
in which we have unprecedented elements of freedom.”
–Jerusalem Post, March 15, 1996 -
“Two Kalashnikov assault rifles and a hand grenade superimposed
on a map of ‘all Palestine’ is among the campaign emblems used by
mainstream PLO candidates in the upcoming elections…In yesterday’s
An-Nahar, the Kalashnikov and grenade emblem was featured in a front-page
campaign advertisement for such mainstream PLO leaders as Nabil Shaath and
Ghassan Khattib, both PA ministers. The emblem carries the slogan: ‘A
promise is a promise, a vow a vow.’ ”
–Jerusalem Post, January 17, 1996 -
“For us, we have a political relationship with Hamas, a
brotherly relationship.”
–Sha’ath, quoted by Reuters, Oct.28, 1994
(Note: This statement was made after the
Hamas bus-bombings in Afula and Hadera.) -
During a live satellite hook-up with Sha’ath at the National
Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council gathering in Washington in
February 1995, Sha’ath was asked, by ZOA National President Morton A.
Klein, “Arafat must send a loud and clear message to the Arab world that
terrorism is immoral and must cease, as Senator Arlen Specter recently
urged him to do. Will you, Mr. Sha’ath, urge Mr. Arafat to do this, and
will he do so?” With hesitation in his voice, Sha’ath responded by
asserting that Arafat will not make speeches against terrorism because “he
is not every good at speaking in public.”
–Moment, August 1995 & Jerusalem Post, February 7, 1995 -
“In response to a question on steps the Palestinian Authority
might take to confront Israeli measures, Sha’ath stressed that the
Palestinian Authority is waging a struggle at the negotiating table. If it
becomes certain that the negotiations process with Israel is ending in
failure, there will be no option other than jihad.”
–Al Watan newspaper (Gaza), February 28, 1995
