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Mofaz: Arafat (directly) gave ’green light’ to suicide attacks
Sunday, February 02, 2003Mofaz: Arafat gave 'green light' to suicide attacks By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent Information directly linking Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to terror organizations was presented Friday by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz. Addressing the Economic-Social Club in Nes Tziona, Mofaz charged that Arafat had instructed the heads of the organizations to kill more Israelis. Referring to a never-before publicized conversation between Arafat and the leaders of the terror groups in February 2001, the defense minister charged that "the Palestinian plan was to cause a few thousand Israeli highly optimistic huh? deaths within a number of months, so that Israel would give in to them... It was tantamount to giving a green light to the suicide terror attacks against Israel." Mofaz said Hamas and Islamic Jihad began the suicide attack campaign and were joined a year or so ago by Arafat's Fatah organization. He noted that Israel was in possession of additional intelligence indicating Arafat's involvement in the terror, adding that the United States and other countries were also privy to this information. In the past, Israel presented information concerning cash payments from Arafat's office to terror activists. Significant information on the issue was published in June last year, when it was reported that shortly after the suicide attack at the French Hill junction in Jerusalem, that left seven Israelis dead, Arafat met with Fatah activist Mohammed Naifeh from Tul Karm, giving him $20,000 to be used for the operations of Fatah's military wing. Israel passed on this information to U.S. President George W. Bush, who, in turn, adopted a tougher stance against the Palestinian leader in his speech on the Middle East in June last year. Posted by: Frank G 2003-02-01 |
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