Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin
May 19, 2003

PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
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A Self Portrait of Mahmoud Abbas, the PA Prime Minister -

The Abbas Doctrine - Selective Terrorism

By Itamar Marcus

Introduction:
American and Israeli hopes that the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud
Abbas, will fight against Palestinian terrorism is paradoxical, as the 4
terrorist attacks committed by Palestinian terrorists over the weekend that
killed 9 Israelis are all legitimate according to the Abbas doctrine. Abbas
has outlined his views regarding terror and violence in recent interviews,
and the principles include:

1. The use of arms against Israeli civilians within Israel should be stopped
for a year due to its current ineffectiveness.
2. The use of arms against Israeli civilians within the Disputed Territories
should continue.

The suicide terror attack that killed 7 Israelis yesterday in French Hill,
is in a part of Jerusalem that the Palestinian authority [PA] claims, and
therefore is within the legitimate target area, according to his recent
statements in Arabic.

Abbas has many other problematic opinions that make many question his
potential as peace partner with Israel:
1- His demand for the settlement within Israel of millions of Arabs from
refugee camps. Settling of these Arabs in Israel would destroy Israel as a
Jewish state.
2 - His doctoral thesis on the Holocaust was an attempt to deny that
6,000,000 Jews were killed along with the standard Holocaust denial
accusations that the Zionist movement created the numbers for profit.

The following spoken and written statements by Mahmoud Abbas, reveal aspects
of his world outlook and form a Self Portrait of the PA Prime Minister.

Self Portrait of Mahmoud Abbas, the PA Prime Minister.

On opposition to armed struggle when ineffective:
"The armed struggle necessitates certain conditions and opportunities that
do not exist for us in Palestine. We cannot equate what is happening in
Palestine with what is going on Lebanon or Algeria. Therefore military
activities under these circumstances and means are ineffective. For this
reason, we stated that we have no choice but to stop it [i.e. military
activities] for a year, which is not a submission from our point of view. As
long as the circumstances are not equivalent." [A-Sharq Al Awsat, March 3,
2003]

On his support for attacks against Israelis in the Disputed Territories:
"The Intifada must continue, along with the right of the Palestinian people
to rise up and use whatever it can to protect its existence and being. I add
and say that if the Israelis come to your land to establish a settlement, it
is within your rights to protect what is yours. with every means and
weapons, when they come to your homes. This is the right of uprising."
[A-Sharq Al Awsat, March 3, 2003]

On the ineffectiveness of the armed conflict:
"After two and a half years of struggle, the result is that we have returned
to a point below zero." [A-Sharq Al Awsat, March 3, 2003]

On Ariel Sharon
"We know that right now he [Sharon] wants neither security nor peace."
(Al-Quds, February 25, 2003)

On Palestinian accepting the "Road Map":
"This is the result of the agreement reached by the International Quartet,
and we agreed to it despite our reservations... We would like the "Map"
officially adopted in order to begin its implementation." (Al-Quds,
February 25, 2003)

On Israel's tactics against the "Road Map":
"When Israel seeks to make changes [in the Road Map] she will open it and
then destroy it." (Al-Quds, February 25, 2003)

If Israel expels Arafat:
"I do not think that they will find people, not even one person to form a
new Authority."
(Al-Quds, February 25, 2003)

On his relationship as Prime Minister with Arafat:
"It is important to stress that any harm done to President Yasser Arafat, or
any statements regarding the reduction of his authority or his removal, will
spell destruction for the Authority." (Al-Quds, February 25, 2003)

On settling Arabs in refugee camps only inside Israel:
"It is an obligation for the refugee to return to his own home and to
nowhere else in his homeland." (Al-Quds, January 30, 2001)

"Abu Mazen stated that the essence of the Palestinian problem is the refugee
problem and there is no alternative to their returning to their homes and
properties from where they were expelled, as stated in Resolution 194."
(Al-Ayam, January 26 2001)

"Abu Mazen referred to the right of the refugees to return to the homes from
where they were expelled in 1948. He stated that the PLO possess five
million files that contain detailed information on the refugees, and these
documents will be made public at the right time.The PLO will not sign any
peace agreement that does not include the restoration of all the rights of
the Palestinian people." (PA TV News, Feb. 2, 2000)

On Israel's responsibility for the refugee problem:
"Abu Mazen demands that the Israeli government should take a firm stand and
admit its ethical and legal responsibility for the exile of the Palestinian
refugees from their homes." [El-Ayam 26th January, 2001]

On the response of the Palestinian Authority if Hamas and Islamic Jihad
continue carrying out terrorist acts within Israel:
"The Authority will convene and decide what would be appropriate while
avoiding internal conflict, as we maintain our internal unity." (Al-Quds,
February 25, 2003)

On cooperation between the Zionist leaders and Nazi Germany
"A partnership was established between Hitler's Nazis and the leadership of
the Zionist movement...[the Zionists gave] permission to every racist in the
world, led by Hitler and the Nazis, to treat Jews as they wish, so long as
it guarantees immigration to Palestine."
["The Other Side: The Secret Relations Between Nazism and the Leadership of
the Zionist Movement." By Mahmoud Abbas, 1983, translation by Wiesenthal
Center.]

On the Jews raising the number of Holocaust victims
"Having more victims meant greater rights and stronger privilege to join the
negotiation table for dividing the spoils of war once it was over. However,
since Zionism was not a fighting partner -- suffering victims in a battle --
it had no escape but to offer up human beings, under any name, to raise the
number of victims, which they could then boast of at the moment of
accounting."
"It seems that the interest of the Zionist movement...is to inflate this
figure so that their gains will be greater. This led them to emphasize this
figure in order to gain the solidarity of international public opinion with
Zionism. Many scholars have debated the figure of six million and reached
stunning conclusions -- fixing the number of Jewish victims at only a few
hundred thousand."
["The Other Side: The Secret Relations Between Nazism and the Leadership of
the Zionist Movement." By Mahmoud Abbas, 1983, translation by Wiesenthal
Center.]

On doubts about the numbers Jews killed in Holocaust
"Following the war word was spread that six million Jews were amongst the
victims and that a war of extermination was aimed primarily at the
Jews...The truth is that no one can either confirm or deny this figure."
"In other words, it is possible that the number of Jewish victims reached
six million, but at the same time it is possible that the figure is much
smaller -- below one million."
["The Other Side: The Secret Relations Between Nazism and the Leadership of
the Zionist Movement." By Mahmoud Abbas, 1983, translation by Wiesenthal
Center.]

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