PALESTINIANS WARN OF AL-AQSA ATTACK IN MOSQUE INCITEMENT, QREIA
BRIEFING,WHILE PUSHING TOUGH LINE
By Michael Widlanski 18 March 2005
[Provided to IMRA by the author with permission to distribute]
In a fiery official sermon on Palestinian State Television Friday
(March 18, 2005), Palestinian preacher Sheikh Ibrahim Mudeiris declared that
"the Jewish government" was hatching plots together with "extremist
religious Jews" to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem or to "invade the
blessed Al-Aqsa mosque" with "thousands of extremists, Jews."
Sheikh Mudeiris, who spoke in a mosque in Gaza, warned Israel that
"millions of Muslims would come to the defense of Al-Aqsa," and similar
comments came in the other official mosque address on Voice of Palestine
radio from Sheikh Youssef Abu-Sneina at the Aqsa mosque itself in
Jerusalem.
Both addresses featured anti-American elements, too, comparing
Palestinian "martyrs" with those in fighting the U.S. in Iraq.
The speeches themselves were only the latest signs that the Palestinian
Authority (PA) headed by Mahmoud Abbas had not really carried out its
promise to stop all violence and incitement to violence against Israel,
while Israeli officials have actually downplayed or hidden obvious
Palestinian violations.
"All official mosque speeches are being censored," asserted two days ago
Maj. Gen. Youssef Mishlab, the head of Israel's coordination team with the
Palestinians.
But General Mishlab's remarks were belied by Sheikh Muderis as he
periodically jabbed the air with his finger and readjusted the white skull
cap on his head which had been jarred loose by his emotions.
In his speech in Gaza, Sheikh Muderis, asserted that the plots against
Al-Aqsa, the silver-domed holy mosque that sits on Jerusalem's Temple Mount,
had come to light a month ago but were part of an ongoing and "organized
plan" that was still liable to be carried out.
"We add our voices here.We say to all Muslims. We say that we here in
Palestine, that we have tolerated many things, but we will not tolerate
this," warned Sheikh Mudeiris, a past known supporter of Osama Bin-Laden's
Al-Qaeda organization.
"We have suffered poverty and we have suffered destruction, martyrdom,
and we have suffered assassinations of individuals and groups," asserted
Sheikh Mudiris who draws a salary from the Palestinian National Authority
headed by Mahmoud Abbas which had promised Israeli officials and reporters
that Mudeiris would be taken off the air and that other mosque speeches
would be censored.
"We have suffered martyrdom and the destruction of our houses, but we
will not tolerate two things but we will not abide the taking of our land
and the destruction of our holy sites--ever," proclaimed the young mosque
speaker
"We have suffered five thousand martyrs and a hundred thousand wounded
to stop Sharon enering our mosque," declared Mudeiris, referring to the
visit by Ariel Sharon (now prime minister but then leader of the Israeli
opposition) to the Temple Mount area in September 2000.
The Sharon visit was seized on by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who
died last year, and Muslim extremists, to launch a four-year-long war of
attrition which the Palestinian have nicknamed the "Intifada of Al-Aqsa."
Intifada, which means "shaking-off" in Arabic, was also the name given by
Palestinians to the widely televised anti-Israeli riots and demonstrations
that began in December 1987 and lasted more than a year before they also
turned into isolated incidents of terror and thuggery.
The remarks of General Mishlab, an Arabic-speaking member of Israel's
Druze community, whose members serve in the Israeli army, were widely aired
on Israeli radio and television, and they were quoted in the Israeli press.
Other Israeli security officials, including Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz,
have told reporters that PA leader Abbas is trying hard to crack down on
terror even after Abbas declared earlier this week that he was going to
release two notorious Palestinian terror leaders from British custody in
Jericho:
*-- Ahmad Sa'adat, the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP) which assassinated Israeli Tourism Minister Rehav'am Zeevi
in a Jerusalem hotel in October 2001;
*--Fuad Shoubaki, the man who organized many of the secret weapons transfers
for Yasser Arafat including the "Karinne A" weapons ship captured by Israel
in early 2002.
Abbas's comments, which were carried by the Palestinian newspapers in
Arabic, led to an outcry from Israeli parliamentarians-even on the Left-not
to hand over Jericho to Palestinian control, and it, in fact, was only
turned over to the PA after Abbas recanted his public pledge.
At the same time, however, there is evidence that Abbas and his prime
minister, Ahmad Qreia (nicknamed Abu 'Ala) have actually stepped up demands
on Israel, calling for the total release of all Palestinian security
prisoners, including those convicted of murder.
Indeed, there are signs that the fiery Friday mosque speech actually
reflects PA policy at the highest levels-a real fear that Israel is involved
in plotting against Al-Aqsa or that such charges help solidify the
Abbas-Qreia regime that has succeeded Arafat.
Less than three hours later Sheikh Mudeiris's mosque speech, Palestinian
Authority Prime Minister essentially reiterated the same warnings against
Israel (Friday 3PM Jerusalem time) as PA Television broadcast remarks Qreia
made to reporters last evening.
"We warn the Israeli government and we warn the international community
about any aggression on Al-Aqsa-no matter of why kind," asserted Prime
Minister Qreia.
Qreia remarks, Abbas's desire to release the Jericho terrorists, and
the airing of the Sheikh Mudeiris sermon were clear indications that the
Abbas-Qreia regime is playing a much tougher line than the Sharon Government
has been telling the Israeli public.
Israeli officials have told the public that PA incitement has declined
sharply, but for weeks, the Palestinian media have continued to refer to
Palestinian terror attacks on Israel-such as the recent bombing in Tel
Aviv-as "explosive operations," calling the suicide bombers "heroic
bombers"-"mustash-heedeen" in Arabic.
Israeli officials, and intelligence specialists vetted by the Israeli
government, have contended that Chairman Abbas had unequivocally condemned
anti-Israeli violence and the continuation of the "Intifada," but Abbas's
interviews in the Arab press show that he actually "reserves the right" to
resume attacks if Israel does not make concessions fast enough.
Israeli officials and reporters have also been telling the Israeli public
that official Palestinian state television would not allow Mudeiris, the
charismatic young and somewhat rotund bearded cleric, back on the air.
Indeed, the mosque address in Gaza came only hours after a much-heralded
meeting in Cairo Egypt calling for a pseudo-ceasefire against Israeli
targets, known in Arabic as a "tahdiyya" or "cooling-off."
The term "tahdiyya," which has become a bit of a buzz-word in Israel has
rarely if ever been heard in diplomatic parlance, and it apparently came
into use because the HAMAS and Islamic Jihad terror groups were unwilling
to agree even to use the term "hudna" an Arabic term for a temporary
cease-fire between a Muslim and a non-Muslim.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon publicly applauded the Cairo
conference as a step forward, but there are many signs that it was actually
a hardening of Palestinian positions.
During this week, Israeli broadcast reporters blitzed viewers and
listeners with reports that PA leader Abbas was going to table a proposal
for Palestinian compromise on the highly controversial issue of Palestinian
refugees-the "right of return"-but this has not materialized as well.
Indeed, at the Cairo conference yesterday on the "Palestinian national
dialogue" between the Abbas-led PLO and PA and the rest of the Palestinian
groups, a statement emerged reinforcing the Palestinian demand for refugee
"return to their homes," the current State of Israel.
Dr. Michael Widlanski is a specialist in Arab politics and communication
whose doctorate dealt with the Palestinian broadcast media.
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