Captured Documents from Arafat's Compound: Inciting Israeli Arabs to join
the Intifada, Arafat unwilling to recognize Israel's right to exist

IDF Spokesperson's Office April 13 2002
[ As appears on the IDF website
http://www.idf.il/gilui/site/english/main_index.stm ]

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 [its land], standing
fast and patient, whose roots are in the land of the fathers and
grandfathers. You, with your steadfast determination and adherence [to the
land] ever since Allah ordered so, [for] 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 [hanging] on your neck and
the neck of your grandchildren, because you are the defenders and guardians
[of the homeland] 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 [i.e. the Israeli Arab citizens], who have always
been and forever will be the natural depth and fortified wall of our
Palestinian people and its just cause. The [Palestinian] 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 [i.e. Israel], 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 [and while maintaining] false
justice.

Today, we expect absolutely nothing of the rulers of the [Arab] 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 [the
"Naqba"]. 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 [collaborators] and those who were
corrupted,

This is a revolution until victory.

The Liaison Committee
Presidential Bureau
Sunday
30 September 2001