Arafat Calls For Palestinians To Seize Jerusalem

December 21, 2001

This past week, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat gave a widely reported televised address to the Palestinian people in which he called for the cessation of suicide bombings and mortar attacks against Israel. Less widely reported was another speech that Arafat made in which called he on the Palestinians to seize Jerusalem and make it the capitol of a Palestinian state.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry sent to its representatives abroad a translation of Arafat's speech on Tuesday, in which he said one martyr in Jerusalem is worth 70 elsewhere in the country. Arafat told Arabs in Jerusalem, "I tell you that we are now in a historic stage... You are defending the first direction of prayer and the third most holy site, the site of the Messiah's birth. Your steadfastness is most important not only for Palestine and not only for the Arab nation, but also for all the Christians and Muslims in the world." This is not the first time that Arafat has appealed to Christians to support his takeover of Christian holy places in Jerusalem, although Arafat confused Jerusalem with Bethlehem in calling Jerusalem the place of Jesus’ birth.

Arafat spoke in anti-Semitic terms of a Jewish conspiracy to take over Jerusalem. "Oh brothers, there is a conspiracy to Judaize Jerusalem. Therefore I tell you, oh my comrades to this journey, you are standing now at the frontline of battle in the midst of challenging, in Jerusalem, you are blessed to be in this region." Arafat vowed that the Palestinian youth "will wave the flag of Palestine, Allah willing, over the walls of Jerusalem, its churches and its mosques, whether someone likes it or not, and whomever does not like it can drink the water of the Dead Sea."

Referring to the Palestinian suicide bombers whom he had denounced in his television address, Arafat said, "Do you know what a mother of a martyr does when she is informed of the martyrdom of her son? She goes out to the street with cheers of joy saying 'Allah be praised, my son, that you married Palestine rather than your cousin.' This is the Palestinian people."

Arafat also tried to raise the canard of a Jewish conspiracy against the Palestinian people. He referred repeatedly to the first Zionist Conference in Basle, Switzerland in 1896, and made an absurd accusation that Israel was seeking to bring in Jews from Afghanistan. "They say that there are half a million Jews in Afghanistan whom [the Israelis] want to bring to the West Bank and to the Gaza Strip." In reality, there are very few if any Jews living in Afghanistan.

Continuing the theme of a Zionist conspiracy, Arafat said, "One-hundred and four years have passed since the First Zionist Congress in Basle [Switzerland] and our people still stand fast despite the magnitude of the conspiracy and despite the great numbers of the conspirators… We are in the heart of this battle with the fullest extent of its meaning and on all levels… but we are committed to it."

The tone of this Arafat speech contrasts greatly with the televised address in which he called for Palestinians to stop killing the Jews. But it’s not the first time the Nobel Prize winning terrorist has made noises of peace for international consumption but called for continued violence while speaking to Palestinians.

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