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Statements made by members of the PLO
On fighting against Israel:
"I come bearing an olive branch in one hand, and the freedom fighter's gun in
the other. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand." -- Yasser Arafat,
Chairman of the PLO (November, 1974, while speaking at the United Nations)
"This is my homeland; no one can kick me out." -- Yasser Arafat's reply to Ariel
Sharon's threat to expel him from the occupied territories. September 11, 2003.
"Whoever thinks of stopping the uprising before it achieves its goals, I will
give him ten bullets in the chest." --Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the PLO
"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 now we are 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." --Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the
PLO (During an October 21,1996 speech at the Dehaishe refugee camp)
"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is
only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our
Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians,
Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do
we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national
interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people"
to oppose Zionism. For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with
defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa. While as a Palestinian,
I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the
moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute
to unite Palestine and Jordan." --PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein,
March 31, 1977, interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw."
On accepting Israel:
"Palestinians are no strangers to compromise. In the 1993 Oslo Accords, we
agreed to recognize Israeli sovereignty over 78 percent of historic Palestine
and to establish a Palestinian state on only 22 percent." -- Saeb Erekat, Chief
Palestinian negotiator, 5 August 2000
"Consequently, the PLO undertakes to submit to the Palestinian National Council
for formal approval the necessary changes in regard to the Palestinian
covenant." --Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the PLO (in the exchange of letters with
Israel on 9 September 1993)
"Israel must not demand that the PLO alter its covenant, just as the PLO does
not demand that the Jewish nation cancel the Bible." --Ziad Abu Ziad, senior PLO
official (in a speech to the American Jewish Federation, 23 October 1993)
In his 22 April 2004 interview with the Jordanian newspaper Al-Arab, the PLO
minister still living in Tunisia Farouk Kaddoumi said that the PLO charter was
never changed so as to recognize Israel's right to exist. "The Palestinian
national charter has not been amended until now. It was said that some articles
are no longer effective, but they were not changed. I'm one of those who didn't
agree to any changes." He said also: "...the national struggle must continue. I
mean the armed struggle... Fatah was established on the basis of the armed
struggle and that this was the only way to leading to political negotiations
that would force the enemy to accept our national aspirations. Therefore there
is no struggle other than the armed military struggle... If Israel wants to
leave the Gaza Strip, then it should do so. This means that the Palestinian
resistance has forced it to leave. But the resistance will continue. Let the
Gaza Strip be South Vietnam. We will use all available methods to liberate North
Vietnam."
"If you are asking me, as a man who belongs to the Islamic faith, my answer is
also "From the river to the sea," the entire land is an Islamic Waqf which
cannot be bought or sold, and it is impossible to remain silent while someone is
stealing it..." -- Faisal Husseini (1940-2001), Fatah leader and PA Minister for
Jerusalem, 'Al-Arabi' (Egypt), 24 June 2001. Similar statements were made in the
newspaper 'As-Safir' on 3 March 2001.
On whether the PLO police force will work with Israel against terrorism:
"The Joint Security Coordination and Cooperation Committee set up under Article
II hereunder shall develop a plan to ensure full coordination between the
Israeli military forces and the Palestinian police..." -- from the agreement
signed by Israel and the PLO in Cairo on 4 May 1994 (paragraph 2a of Annex I to
the agreement)
"Anyone who thinks the Palestinian police will try to prevent attacks outside
the borders of the autonomous area is making a bitter mistake." --- Sufian Abu
Zaida, a leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in Gaza (Maariv, 25 April 1994)
"If there are those who oppose the agreement with Israel, the gates are open to
them to intensify the armed struggle." -- Jibril Rajoub, PLO security chief for
the West Bank, during a lecture at Bethlehem University (Yediot Aharonot, 27 May
1994)
On the right of return of Palestinian refugees:
"I recently read an interview with an elderly Palestinian woman living in the
Ein el Hilwa camp in Lebanon. Tightly gripping the rusted key to her family's
farm near Jaffa, she asked her interviewer how she should explain to her
grandchildren, who had known only the stench of the camp's open sewers, what it
was like to wake up to the scent of fresh lemons." -- Elia Zureik, a Professor
of Sociology at Queen's University, Kingston, Canada, Advises the Palestine
Liberation Organization on Refugee Issues
"800,000 Palestinians among those who left after 1967 will come back in the
transitional period, which is five years. Those who left in 1948 will come back
after the declaration of the Palestinian independent state." -- Nabil Sha'ath,
head of the PLO delegation to the talks with Israel in Taba (Al-Hayat, 28
September 1993)
"In my opinion, the refugees problem is more important than a Palestinian state"
-- Faruk Kadumi, general secretary of the Fatah council (Kul Al-Arab, 3 January
2003)
On why the PLO signed the Cairo agreement with Israel:
"The money is the carrot for signing the peace agreement with Israel. We have
signed." -- Hassan Abu Libdah, deputy chairman of the PLO's Palestinian Economic
Council for Development and Reconstruction (The New York Times, 10 June 1994)
On Palestinian statehood:
"Palestinians believe that Jerusalem should be a shared, open city; two capitals
for two states." -- Faisal Husseini, senior PLO representative in Israel, 3 July
2000
"Gradually, stage by stage, we will reach an independent Palestinian state with
Jerusalem as the capital." -- Faisal Husseini, senior PLO representative in
Israel (Beirut Times, 16 September 1993)
The Palestinian flag "will fly over the walls of Jerusalem, the churches of
Jerusalem and the mosques of Jerusalem." -- Yasser Arafat, Former Chairman of
the PLO (Jordanian TV, 13 September 1993)
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