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| Middle East |
| Arafat aide: Third intifada if Jews visit Temple Mount |
| 2003-05-18 |
| JPost Reg req'd - more from the peace-lovin'Paleos One of Yasser Arafat's top aides warned Sunday that reopening the Temple Mount to non-Muslims would lead to a third intifada against Israel. Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a senior political advisor to Arafat, said: "This could be the trigger for a third intifada. How else can we interpret the stupidity of Israel's police minister, who announced last week that Jews would be allowed to visit the al-Aqsa mosque?" Rahman was speaking at a memorial ceremony held in Ramallah for three Palestinian journalists killed in the current violence. He described statements made by Police Minister Tsachi Hanegbi to this effect as idiotic and naive. Hanegbi said last week that Jews and non-Muslim tourists would soon be permitted to visit the Temple Mount, which has been closed by Muslim religious authorities since the outbreak of violence more than two years ago. The PA Mufti in Jerusalem, Ikrimah Sabri, warned over the weekend that allowing Jews to enter the Temple Mount would result in a bloodbath. worse than is already occurring? I would actually expect the fight to be taken to the Paleos. I don't think Sharon can do otherwise and stay in power Rahman, who until recently served as secretary general of the Palestinian cabinet, also said there was no chance of reaching any agreement with the government of Ariel Sharon. The new Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), refused to include Rahman in his new cabinet. In return, Arafat compensated him by appointing him as his senior political advisor and promoting him to the rank of minister. Arafat rewards him to undermine the PM - is there any reason why we should stop the IDF from reducing his hovel "Our first mission is to achieve [Palestinian] national unity," he stressed. "We must stop following illusions and mirages. Did you ever hear Sharon say that he will withdraw to the 1967 border? So why are we negotiating with him? Are we doing so in order to allow him to further humiliate us at the checkpoints, as if we are black laborers working for their white employers? I haven't heard one Israeli official talk about Israel's readiness to withdraw to the 1967 borders." Rahman, who represented Arafat at the ceremony, warned that the fight against Israel would continue until the Palestinians achieve all their rights. "Yes, there is a state called Israel, but if it doesn't pull back from the Palestinian territories, the resistance will continue regardless of what the international community says," he added. "This is our legitimate right." He said Palestinians refuse to provide security for Israel as long as the occupation continues. "There will be no security for settlers or the occupation forces," he warned, adding that the Palestinians can never forgive the "Israeli murderers or make peace with them." Fine, the Israelis should acknowledge this, then kill them, Arafat and Rahman should be given the first chance for glorious martyrdom |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #13 Interesting choice, Brian, Siberia. Many currently in Israel are descendents of those who initially sent people there. As well as many who were sent there themselves. I believe Tom is correct on all accounts. Peace is not gonna happen. But you gotta try. You got Islamic crazies whipping the people into madness on one side. And Likudniks preaching a return to Solomon's glory (and borders) on the other. I just don't want to see our kids and grandkids get killed in between. Golda was a smart old bird. But if someone told you that, wouldn't you think they just threatened your children? |
| Posted by: Scott 2003-05-18 23:31:30 |
| #12 Golda Meir said, "There will be no peace until the Palestinians love their children more than they hate the Jews". |
| Posted by: Denny 2003-05-18 21:18:15 |
| #11 The poor, huddled masses are not the problem. It's their suicide-bombing fringe and Israel's settlement-building fringe. Take those away and the rest have a chance to live in peace and eventually prosperity. But there'll never be peace and prosperity for the Palestinians until they put aside hate and can be trusted as reliable neighbors and co-workers. That said, I don't expect to see it in my lifetime. A culture of hate and death is not going to change in one generation. |
| Posted by: Tom 2003-05-18 20:41:47 |
| #10 Scott, your place for the poor huddled masses of Hebron is Siberia. Or the Sun via trans-solar injection. |
| Posted by: Brian 2003-05-18 20:30:24 |
| #9 Chris - 1st - Who tried? Are you gonna tell me that Joe Ali Schmuck, 1443 Temple St., Hebron is gonna turn down the money when the IDF show up with the bulldozer and says, "by eminent domain, we're taking the house. Here's fair market value and by the way, you MUST emigrate to another country and if you do willingly there is UN money for your trasport and resettlement." THAT's the right thing to do. And the best bang for all the bucks we pour into that whole armpit. And as we've seen, if we do otherwise we make Joe's children want to be boomers. 2nd. Who said Israel should have given back what was taken in those wars? Not me. I just say do right by the inhabitants. For Israel's own sake. Those feeble countries didn't count on the world's remaining superpower backing Israel to the extent that we've shown. That part's just law of the jungle. But if America is indeed good (still) we'll at least try to find a place for poor, huddled masses. |
| Posted by: Scott 2003-05-18 16:27:20 |
| #8 First of all, Scott, no one anywhere is dumb enough to think the Arabs would have taken compensation if it had been offered. Israel might accept reparations from the Arabs for the four attempts made to eradicate the Jewish state from 1948 through 1973, not to mention for all the thousands of Israeli civilians that have been and continue to be murdered. And maybe you can answer this: if the West Bank and Gaza are "Palestinian" territory, why wasn't a "Palestinian" state created some time between 1948 and 1967 when Egypt ran Gaza and Jordan ran the West Bank? Or does "Palestinian" nationality only date from 1967? |
| Posted by: Chrisotopher Johnson 2003-05-18 15:57:08 |
| #7 Maybe Israel can set up concentration camps with showers and incinerators, eh, OP? I mean it was done to them, right? They certainly have a free pass to displace all the palestinians who were there before they showed up, right? My position is the same, Israel was stupid NOT compensating those people whose land they took and whose houses they continue to take. And it's going to cost them many times more in money and blood in the long run. Did I say them? I really mean US. |
| Posted by: Scott 2003-05-18 15:40:20 |
| #6 I say every religion should be limited to only ONE holy place. Islam has Mecca. Good enough I say. |
| Posted by: RW 2003-05-18 15:28:41 |
| #5 There can never be peace as long as there is a "Palestine". No amount of Israeli territory will ever be enough. Sharon should give the people 72 hours to pack and leave, then raze every bit of Paleostinian "territory". The "1967 boundary" was the cease-fire line from the 1948 War of Independence. There's nothing "holy" or "legitimate" about it as the boundaries of Israel. Once they get all the Hayrats out, they should push 10 miles into surrounding territory on all sides except Jordan, and plant 100Kt nuclear mines, with a hair trigger. Maybe then, at least for a month or two, Israel will have peace. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-05-18 15:01:46 |
| #4 there is a serious problem when the Palestinians still identify ALL of Temple Mount as being Al Aksa Mosque, which is only a small part of the real estate there. It is called Temple Mount for a reason: it is a direct link back to the historical presence of the original Jewish Temple which stood there. Why should Jews/Christians be denied access to it? This is depressing - we seem to make NO progress. mer |
| Posted by: m rainey 2003-05-18 14:42:31 |
| #3 When is someone going to eliminate Hamas and Hezbollah, and the al-aksa bozos brigade? Nothing will happen until the flow of funds and the leadership is taken out. All the rest is window dressing. The Arab leadership wants these organizations around to stick it to Israel. We don't. We need to do something about this. A decade plus of footsie is not cutting it. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-05-18 14:17:28 |
| #2 Third intefada? Did the second one end with no one noticing? I'm in a surly mood today and currently think the Paleos are utterly beyond redemption. It's long past time to kill all the leaders and scatter their people to the furthest four corners of the world. If the Paleos think they know what a naqba is, they ain't seen nothing yet. Grrr! |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2003-05-18 11:50:10 |
| #1 Fred - Missed a highlight in the middle : "Arafat rewards him to undermine the PM - is there any reason why we should stop the IDF from reducing his hovel rubble to gravel?" is obviously my rhetorical question |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-05-18 11:42:40 |