Terrorism: Israel and the World

More of this Feature • Part 1: Terrorism before Occupation • Part 2: "Land for Terrorism" • Part 3: Terrorism after Palestinian Statehood • Part 4: Radical Islamic Ideology Legitimizes Terrorism • Part 5: Arafat Supports Terrorism • Part 6: Fighting Terrorism   Anti-Israeli Terrorist Groups •  Hizbullah •  Hamas •  Islamic Jihad •  PFLP, PFLP-GC, PFL •  Fatah's Tanzim •  Fatah's Al-Aksa Martyrs' Brigades • Quranic Verses about Jihad  Elsewhere on the Web • Al-Qaida and al-Quran • Arab-Israeli Conflict: Myths and Facts • "Arafat Files" • Declaration of Principles, Oslo 1993 • Documents showing Arafat's Funding of Terrorist Activities • Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) • Palestinian National Authority Map of Palestine • Report on Palestinian Incitement to Violence • U.S. State Department - Background on Terrorist Groups

• Corruption and the Spread of Radical Islamic Ideology
  The corruption that marked the first years of Arafat's rule indirectly encouraged the spread of radical Islamic ideology and the growth of terrorist groups.
  • December 1996: Israeli military deployment of West Banks towns followed by the entry of Arafat with 3500 Palestinian police and intelligence agents. Arrests of certain members of the media (Maher al-Alami), Human Rights Groups (Basim Eid, Dr. Eyyad Sarraj, Raji Sourani), and Fatah (Ahmad Tabuk) by Arafat's police quickly followed.
  • January 20, 1997: In the first Palestinian elections for President, Arafat ran against one candidate, Samiha Khalil, the head of a Ramallah-based charity. According to a French survey, there was a very strong media imbalance during the 18 day campaigning period in that Palestinian TV gave over an hour's coverage to Arafat's candidacy and zero to Samiha Khalil's candidacy.
  • May 1997: Arafat's critics accuse him of: 1) permitting human rights abuses (arrests, torture and killing of dissenters), 2) condoning corruption and mismanagement ($326 million of public funds (37% of the annual P.A. budget) lost through waste and corruption, grinding poverty of masses next to opulent homes for leaders), and 3) indulging in a fundamentally undemocratic style of governing (ignoring laws passed by legislature, severely limiting freedom of the media).
  • May 1997: Arafat approves policy of death penalty for Palestinians suspected of selling land to Jews. Official approval followed by murder of suspects.
  • September 1999: Poll shows that 71% of Palestinians believe corruption is widespread in P.A. institutions.
  • November-December 1999: The arrest of Palestinian intellectuals and politicians who signed a document denouncing the rule of Arafat. The document said that the PA "has followed a systematic methodology of corruption, humiliation and abuse against the people."

• Incitement to Violence following the Oslo Accords
  This report on Palestinian incitement to violence records statement after statement of incitement to violence by Arafat and other Palestinian leaders in the years following the Oslo Peace Accords.
  • Arafat addressing a crowd in Tulkarem: "I now see the walls of Jerusalem, the mosques of Jerusalem, the churches of Jerusalem. My brothers! With blood and with spirit we will redeem you, Palestine! Yes, with blood and with spirit we will redeem you, Palestine!" (Voice of Palestine, April 28, 1997)
  • Arafat speaking at the Dehaishe refugee camp: "We know only one word: jihad, jihad, jihad. When we stopped the intifada, we did not stop the jihad for the establishment of a Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem. And we are now entering the phase of the great jihad prior to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem.... We are in a conflict with the Zionist movement and the Balfour Declaration and all imperialist activities" (Yediot Aharonot, Oct. 23, 1996).
  • Arafat to a delegation of Hebron Arab notables urging the use of violence: "Have you run out of stones in Hebron? Prepare the stones." (Voice of Israel, Oct. 21, 1996).
  • Arafat to Palestinian security forces in Gaza: "They will fight for Allah, and they will kill and be killed, and this is a solemn oath... Our blood is cheap compared with the cause which has brought us together and which at moments separated us, but shortly we will meet again in heaven... Palestine is our land and Jerusalem is our capital" (Maariv, Oct. 4, 1996).
  • Arafat threatening Israel with violence: "If Israel rejects our demands there will be a reaction and we have a 30,000 man armed force." (Israel Radio, June 7, 1996)
  • Arafat in August 1995: "The Israelis are mistaken if they think we do not have an alternative to negotiations. By Allah I swear they are wrong. The Palestinian people are prepared to sacrifice the last boy and the last girl so that the Palestinian flag will be flown over the walls, the churches and the mosques of Jerusalem." (Haaretz, Sep. 6, 1995; The Jerusalem Post, Sep. 7, 1995)
  • Arafat in a speech at Gaza's Al-Azhar University on June 19: "The commitment still stands and the oath is still valid: that we will continue this long jihad, this difficult jihad... via deaths, via sacrifices." (The Jerusalem Post, Aug. 3, 1995)
  • Arafat in a speech in Gaza in January 1995: "All of us are willing to be martyrs along the way, until our flag flies over Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine. Let no one think they can scare us with weapons, for we have mightier weapons - the weapon of faith, the weapon of martyrdom, the weapon of jihad." (Parade Magazine, New York Newsday, June 25, 1995)
    

• Planned Violence following Camp David Offer of a Palestinian State
  At Camp David II, Arafat rejected an offer of a Palestinian State, comprised on 97% of the West Bank and all of Gaza with sovereignty over half of Jerusalem including the Temple Mount, and $30 billion in world economic aid. To divert attention away from his refusal of a Palestinian State, Arafat instigated violent riots against Israel. P.A. Communications Minister, Imad Faluji, admitted that the violence was planned. P.A. radio called on Palestinians to demonstrate, schools were closed, and buses were used to bring students to the Temple Mount to take part in riots. September-October riots consisted both of stone-throwing Palestinian youth and of gun-wielding Tanzim fighters. Tanzim is a P.A. militia funded and armed by Arafat. As the riots evolved into guerilla and terrorist attacks, Arafat freed Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists from prison, supported illegal arms smuggling and stockpiling, and funded terrorist activities such as suicide bombings.

If the Palestinian people has more enlightened leadership, peace with Israel would be possible and better lives for the Palestinian people could be realized.

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