IDF Spokesperson’s Office, April 13, 2002
[ As appears on the IDF website https://www.idf.il/en/ ]
A. Introduction: Among the documents captured by the IDF during Operation
Defensive Wall is a statement of policy sent to Arab notables in Israel through
the “Liaison Committee” with Israeli Arabs, which operates from Arafat’s
bureau.
The statement, which bears the emblem of the Palestinian Authority (PA)
and the President’s Bureau, was issued on September 30th 2001 to mark the
Intifada’s first anniversary, it is concerned mainly with the incitement of Israeli
Arabs to take part in the violent events.
The statement is full of vile expressions of hatred towards Israel and its
citizens, who are called “Zionist gangs”, “the robbers of the twentieth century”,
“the killers of children, women and the elderly”, “creators of international
terror”, “land plunderers” to quote a few examples.
Over and beyond that, the statement reflects the absence of willingness by
Arafat and the PA to recognize Israel’s right to exist, and the PA’s aspiration to
establish “one homeland” belonging to “one people” on Palestine soil with
Jerusalem as its capital.
In the statement there is no trace of any mention of aspiration for peace
and mutual co-existence, of the peace process, of the Oslo accords or the 1967
borders. This is the language and terminology used by Arafat and the PA
vis-a-vis their own people, in total contrast to the “positive” messages directed
to the US and to Europe (the content and the style of the article signed by
Arafat in the New York Times on February 3rd 2002, are significantly different
from those in the statement of policy).
It is of note that similar expressions of hatred and incitement that reflect
refusal to accept Israel’s existence and encouragement of violence and
terrorism as a means for advancing the Palestinian strategic aims are strongly
imbued in the educational system of the Palestinian Authority (which receives
funds from the European Union) as well as in the Palestinian media, in literature
and the various Palestinian cultural symbols.
B. Characteristics of the policy statement and their implications:
1. A policy statement dated September 30th 2001 bearing the emblem of the
Palestinian Authority and the President’s (Arafat’s) Bureau was sent by the
Liaison Committee (with Israeli Arabs) to Arab notables in Israel, to mark the
anniversary of the Intifada.
2. The “Liaison Committee” with Israeli Arabs operates from Arafat’s bureau
and is headed by Fawzi Nimer. Its main role is to recruit Israeli Arabs to support
the PA. In the October 2000 events, the Liaison Committee made contact with
Arab notables in Israel and encouraged them to intensify their activity.
3. The statement of policy is full of vile expressions of hatred towards Israel,
inciting Israeli Arabs to join in the violent activities perpetrated in the framework
of the Intifada.
C. The main points of the policy statement
1. Derogatory remarks about Israel: described in the statement as follows:
“Zionist gangs, the occupier that is raping our lands and our homeland, the
robbers of the twentieth century, creators of international terror, killers of
children, women and the elderly, thieves of property and livelihood, destroyers
and burners of the soil, the seeds and the stones, plunderers of the land, bullies
of the worst occupier that history has known”. The statement accuses Israel of
adopting a policy of “discrimination, racism, land appropriation, deportation,
expulsion”.
2. Emphasizing the close linkage between inhabitants of the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip and Israeli Arabs: Israeli Arabs, who are termed “residents of the
cities and the villages occupied since 1948”, constitute according to the
statement of policy the “natural depth and fortified wall of our Palestinian
people and its just cause”.
Israel’s Arab inhabitants have “a common cause and fate”, “share the
same national dream” with inhabitants of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Appendix: English Translation of the Statement Issued by Arafat’s
Bureau
The Palestinian Liberation Organization
The Palestinian National Authority
The President’s Bureau
In the Name of Allah the Compassionate and Merciful
A Statement Made on Behalf of the Liaison Committee, Marking the First
Anniversary of the Al Aqsa Intifada.
Lo, the great crowd of our Palestinian people clutching , standing fast
and patient, whose roots are in the land of the fathers and grandfathers. You,
with your steadfast determination and adherence ever since Allah
ordered so, more than half a century, fighting the conqueror who plunders
our land and homeland. It was fated that you and the next generations, until the
day of resurrection of the dead, shall keep this homeland. You keep this
deposit, which is on your neck and the neck of your grandchildren,
because you are the defenders and guardians and live in it,
and you are its original and lawful owners, and you are its heirs until the day
you are resurrected. With you and with your help, we pay homage to the first
anniversary of the spark of the Intifada… the blessed Al Aqsa Intifada in which
our people is waging in the liberated territories and occupied territories, and
abroad around the world, stressing the strength of the struggle treasured in its
soul to explode the spark of anger accumulating at the face of the robbers of
the twentieth century, the creators of international terrorism, the killers of
children, women and the elderly, plunderers of land and livelihood, who destroy
and burn the soil, the seeds and the rocks.
Indeed, the people, with all its sects and groups, started the Intifada
everywhere it could. The ties have interlaced, that connect the sons of
Jerusalem and the West Bank with those of the Gaza Strip and those of the
cities occupied since 1948 , who have always been
and forever will be the natural depth and fortified wall of our Palestinian people
and its just cause. The people has indeed started its Intifada in
order to pave, with its pure and stainless blood, the pavements and alleys and
squares of the holiest of holy places, the capital of the independent Palestinian
state.
The man and the rock, the bird and the tree, have started the Intifada in the
allies of Jerusalem and its holy places, the mountains of the West Bank and its
valleys, the shores of Gaza and its refugee camps, the planes and hills and
peaks of Palestine, the cities and villages of Palestine occupied since 1948
, the supreme one, withstanding its bitterness, holding fast and
taking roots. Yes, we will draw up with blood the map of the one homeland [“al
watan al wahad”] and the one people [“al shaab al wahad”]. We will indeed
outline the marks of the nobility and national coping with the policy of
discrimination, racism, land appropriation, deportation and intended expulsion,
taken against the Palestinian person, in the absence of the international
community false justice.
Today, we expect absolutely nothing of the rulers of the nation, which is
overcome with sleepiness and bound by silence and overwhelmed by
cowardice. We are expectant and we follow with dreamy nationalist eyes our
families and great people in the towns and villages of the steadfast resistance
of 1948. For they share the cause and the fate, share the one national dream.
The Al Aqsa Intifada and independence have fulfilled the unity and national
alliance of all the sons of the determined Palestinian people, despite the blocks
created by the occupation, despite all the acts of massacre committed by the
Zionist gangs since the 1948 disaster . To commemorate this
great memory, we now emphasize, together and equally, the ongoing will of the
one people, the life of the noble liberty, despite the policy of suppression and
racial discrimination taken against us by the bullies of the worst of occupiers
ever known in history, in order to express in its rage the historical exploitation
that came upon us since the beginning of modern history by the stone Intifada,
the Intifada of the hidden rage…
Today, no voice can overcome the sound of the Intifada. It will continue to be
the Intifada of the one people and one outburst of blood… it will continue to be
a prolonged Intifada of rage… a prolonged Intifada of independence… an
Intifada of innumerable generations which will continue until our supreme
national dream is fulfilled. Since we are the lawful owners of the land and the
truth, of the independent homeland and independent state. Therefore, with you
and with your help, and by the respectable members of our Arab Islamic nation,
and by the people of freedom in the world, we will establish our independent
Palestinian state whose capital shall be the holy Jerusalem… with you and with
your help we shall liberate our holy places, the Church of the Nativity and the
Al Aqsa Mosque, in order for the Palestinian flag to fly free in the sky of
Jerusalem, cradle of the heavenly religions, land of the apostles, the land where
the people shall convene in the Day of Judgement.
Glory and eternity to our innocent casualties,
Quick recovery to our wounded heroes,
Liberty to our imprisoned heroes,
Disgrace and contempt to the agents and those who were
corrupted,
This is a revolution until victory.
The Liaison Committee Presidential Bureau Sunday 30 September 2001
