Blasphemy
30th November 2002, 10:54
this is the full speech given by arafat's right hand, and number 2 in the palestinian authority, Abu Mazen, in the refugee camp in Gaza.
"two years passed since we started the intifada, and we have to ask ourselves: what have we achieved so far? where have we reached? what were the mistakes, and what were the accomplishments? if we even had any. and mainly, which path are we choosing?
we must not leave matters vague. we must not waste time. let us stop for a minute, and look at ourselves. i'm not asking for us to beat ourselves up, but to choose a path.
the decision of starting the intifada, as a protest for the actions taken by israel, was not a mistake. i find three reasons for it: deep frustrations from the failure of the negotiations, the expansion of the settlements and sharon's visit to the temple mount. these are the reasons that drove the palestinian people to cry out and protest - so the world will know that israel is conducting war crimes.
but we must not forget that at these days we were involved in a peace process. we started in Gaza and Jericho, and continued in the rest of the cities in the west bank. 42 percent of the west bank territories were freed. we declared a rehabilitation process. the world started sending us aid money, so we can build the palestinian homeland, with jerusalem as its capitol. we reached the final stages, that would have led to the ending of the occupation, and to a solution for the refugees problem.
what's been happening in the past two years completely destroyes everything we achieved.
the main reason is that many gave in to israel's actions, and militarised the intifada. our people began using different weapons - mortars, grandes, assault rifles, and starting firing from civilian locations. this is not a popular intifada mean to manifest the frustration of the palestinians. as you know, almost every city in the west bank was devestated, due to the actions taken by the israelis as a responce to our actions.
we say that sharon doesn't want peace, and won't bring security. that's true. if sharon would have sat in the negotiations table, and present his diplomatic doctrine, not only would we have rejected it, but also must of the israeli people. in this case, sharon's fate would have been the same as netanyahu's, who refused to give, and was kicked out by the israeli people.
we needed to reach a situation in which we would sit with sharon, and make him reveal all his cards.
after 9/11, the USA stated that they want Arafat. sharon's protested, and the US told him to shut up.
but things took a wrong turn from there. the popular front took responsibility for the assassination of [israel's minister of tourism] Rehavam Zeevi, which resulted in the siege placed on arafat, on and off, until today.
the Moktaa (the palestinian government complex), which was built during the british mandate developed since the palestinian authority was founded, and became some sort of a large village. now, unfortunately, it is completely destroyed.
during the siege on the moktaa, everybody spoke in everybody's name. instead of working, we ran to the news networkd and make contradicting statements. we should have stopped and asked ourselves: where are we going?
i see three options to how we get out of this situation: 1. we restrain ourselves, and i don't see why we won't succeed, in order to preserve what is left of our precious country. if we manage to do so, we would turn the whole world against israel, in a demand to end the occupation. 2. if we try to restrain but fail, the whole world will know that we tried. 3. if we fail because of israel, the world will kow we tried, and israel is the one to blame. in this case, the fingers will be pointed at sharon, and not at us, the things are today.
people here say that the intifada will make sharon fall, but not only he didn't fall, sharon became the strongest zionist leader since herzl. 80% percent of the israelis support him.
they said that the intifada started because of the settlments, but it only caused them to expand. we say that the settlers escaped because of terrorism, but that is simply not true. the say: we want the intifada to free jerusalem. the result: are lands, which have been freed during peaceful negotiations, were reoccupied. we only have the gaza strip, which we hope to salvage before it will be too late.
we can not place on the intifada a burden it cannot hold. we must not bet on the future of our country because of personal reasons. some of the organizations here do not was the authoriy. they want to destroy it and take its place. the result: devastation to all of us. no exceptions.
i tell you all now louldy and clearly: no more! we have sacrificed, and we have been destroyed. this is a crime that must cease. we wan't peace.
sharon will fall after a few months of negotiations because he can't give us anything. we objects to evacuation settlments. he objects to withdrawing from the west bank. his fate will be like netanyahu's.
we all remember how netanyahu refused to give, and then clinton came and said: i thank the palestinians for doing what they had to do. we came to the meeting, and netanyahu started coming up with new demands. and then clinton said: i'm leaving. and he left. and a month later we went to the USA, and clinton said: this man (netanyahu) is an obstacle to peace.
now, the wheels have turned. we are disgraced, we are being pressured to write a constitution, from a government, implement reforms and elect a prime minister. everybody want to get rid of the authority.
when we signed Oslo, no one was with us. they told us we have to consult with the arab countries, but we got parts of our lands back.
the arab summit in beirut approved the Saudi initiative, which included a solution to the refugees problem. this is one of the most successful initiatives modern history has ever know, and it is important because saudia stands behind it.
the meaning of the initiatve is: lands for peace, and full normalization. this is tempting to the israelis, who dream about normal relations in return for a full withdrawal. the result: 60% of the israelis supported the initiative.
i'm not saying we should stop the intifada, but we have to clean it of its negative elements, especially the militarization. we can have demonstrations and rallies, but i don't like the slogan: the rivers of blood. whose blood? our children's?
i said the same thing in ramallah, in a convention of the Fatah, and they were angry. i was told i "crossed the red lines", but almost every jew stands behind sharon today, because they believe he can protect them. we need to say: we want our rights, but we don't want war. when we say that, the number of israelis supporting us will rise.
we must stop the violence for our benefit. give ourselves a chance. we must make it. we don't kill out of a hobby.
what's been happening in the past two years is not the hands of fate, but our own creation. i hope we can make a change. we have a new minister of financed, with a vision, who knows what he wants. there's a new minister of the interior, who want to unite the powers in the authority.
to conclude: i'm the head of the acting body, responsible for the negotiations and the refugees. i was also responsible for the elections [in 1996]. but i'm not one of those who seek a job. that is why, i have decided to relieve myself of my authorities one by one. i want others to stand by me, and help save quickly, everything that can be saved.
"two years passed since we started the intifada, and we have to ask ourselves: what have we achieved so far? where have we reached? what were the mistakes, and what were the accomplishments? if we even had any. and mainly, which path are we choosing?
we must not leave matters vague. we must not waste time. let us stop for a minute, and look at ourselves. i'm not asking for us to beat ourselves up, but to choose a path.
the decision of starting the intifada, as a protest for the actions taken by israel, was not a mistake. i find three reasons for it: deep frustrations from the failure of the negotiations, the expansion of the settlements and sharon's visit to the temple mount. these are the reasons that drove the palestinian people to cry out and protest - so the world will know that israel is conducting war crimes.
but we must not forget that at these days we were involved in a peace process. we started in Gaza and Jericho, and continued in the rest of the cities in the west bank. 42 percent of the west bank territories were freed. we declared a rehabilitation process. the world started sending us aid money, so we can build the palestinian homeland, with jerusalem as its capitol. we reached the final stages, that would have led to the ending of the occupation, and to a solution for the refugees problem.
what's been happening in the past two years completely destroyes everything we achieved.
the main reason is that many gave in to israel's actions, and militarised the intifada. our people began using different weapons - mortars, grandes, assault rifles, and starting firing from civilian locations. this is not a popular intifada mean to manifest the frustration of the palestinians. as you know, almost every city in the west bank was devestated, due to the actions taken by the israelis as a responce to our actions.
we say that sharon doesn't want peace, and won't bring security. that's true. if sharon would have sat in the negotiations table, and present his diplomatic doctrine, not only would we have rejected it, but also must of the israeli people. in this case, sharon's fate would have been the same as netanyahu's, who refused to give, and was kicked out by the israeli people.
we needed to reach a situation in which we would sit with sharon, and make him reveal all his cards.
after 9/11, the USA stated that they want Arafat. sharon's protested, and the US told him to shut up.
but things took a wrong turn from there. the popular front took responsibility for the assassination of [israel's minister of tourism] Rehavam Zeevi, which resulted in the siege placed on arafat, on and off, until today.
the Moktaa (the palestinian government complex), which was built during the british mandate developed since the palestinian authority was founded, and became some sort of a large village. now, unfortunately, it is completely destroyed.
during the siege on the moktaa, everybody spoke in everybody's name. instead of working, we ran to the news networkd and make contradicting statements. we should have stopped and asked ourselves: where are we going?
i see three options to how we get out of this situation: 1. we restrain ourselves, and i don't see why we won't succeed, in order to preserve what is left of our precious country. if we manage to do so, we would turn the whole world against israel, in a demand to end the occupation. 2. if we try to restrain but fail, the whole world will know that we tried. 3. if we fail because of israel, the world will kow we tried, and israel is the one to blame. in this case, the fingers will be pointed at sharon, and not at us, the things are today.
people here say that the intifada will make sharon fall, but not only he didn't fall, sharon became the strongest zionist leader since herzl. 80% percent of the israelis support him.
they said that the intifada started because of the settlments, but it only caused them to expand. we say that the settlers escaped because of terrorism, but that is simply not true. the say: we want the intifada to free jerusalem. the result: are lands, which have been freed during peaceful negotiations, were reoccupied. we only have the gaza strip, which we hope to salvage before it will be too late.
we can not place on the intifada a burden it cannot hold. we must not bet on the future of our country because of personal reasons. some of the organizations here do not was the authoriy. they want to destroy it and take its place. the result: devastation to all of us. no exceptions.
i tell you all now louldy and clearly: no more! we have sacrificed, and we have been destroyed. this is a crime that must cease. we wan't peace.
sharon will fall after a few months of negotiations because he can't give us anything. we objects to evacuation settlments. he objects to withdrawing from the west bank. his fate will be like netanyahu's.
we all remember how netanyahu refused to give, and then clinton came and said: i thank the palestinians for doing what they had to do. we came to the meeting, and netanyahu started coming up with new demands. and then clinton said: i'm leaving. and he left. and a month later we went to the USA, and clinton said: this man (netanyahu) is an obstacle to peace.
now, the wheels have turned. we are disgraced, we are being pressured to write a constitution, from a government, implement reforms and elect a prime minister. everybody want to get rid of the authority.
when we signed Oslo, no one was with us. they told us we have to consult with the arab countries, but we got parts of our lands back.
the arab summit in beirut approved the Saudi initiative, which included a solution to the refugees problem. this is one of the most successful initiatives modern history has ever know, and it is important because saudia stands behind it.
the meaning of the initiatve is: lands for peace, and full normalization. this is tempting to the israelis, who dream about normal relations in return for a full withdrawal. the result: 60% of the israelis supported the initiative.
i'm not saying we should stop the intifada, but we have to clean it of its negative elements, especially the militarization. we can have demonstrations and rallies, but i don't like the slogan: the rivers of blood. whose blood? our children's?
i said the same thing in ramallah, in a convention of the Fatah, and they were angry. i was told i "crossed the red lines", but almost every jew stands behind sharon today, because they believe he can protect them. we need to say: we want our rights, but we don't want war. when we say that, the number of israelis supporting us will rise.
we must stop the violence for our benefit. give ourselves a chance. we must make it. we don't kill out of a hobby.
what's been happening in the past two years is not the hands of fate, but our own creation. i hope we can make a change. we have a new minister of financed, with a vision, who knows what he wants. there's a new minister of the interior, who want to unite the powers in the authority.
to conclude: i'm the head of the acting body, responsible for the negotiations and the refugees. i was also responsible for the elections [in 1996]. but i'm not one of those who seek a job. that is why, i have decided to relieve myself of my authorities one by one. i want others to stand by me, and help save quickly, everything that can be saved.