| AN AMAZING REPORT by Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director, International Christian Zionist Center |
| This amazing report written by my friend and journalist Dmitry Radyshevsky came this morning into my hands. I publish it hereby in full as I believe this voice needs to be widely heard. Recently he, the executive director of the First Annual International Jerusalem Summit, had an in-depth conversation with a very influential Palestinian Arab who no longer resides in the territories. While he now can afford the luxuries of open thought and free speech, his identity must be protected. The conversation appears here without commentary. His revealing analysis provides a concise formula for resolving the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, reveals insight into current Palestinian thinking, and should be a daily reminder of what Israel is enduring. "Israel won the first intifada. The Palestinians were exhausted. Arafat was at his lowest point in Tunisia. At that time Israel could have imposed any solution, and the Palestinians would have accepted it. Instead, you went to Oslo - without consulting with either Arabs in the territories or Jordan ... And the Arabs concluded that Arafat had won. "Palestinians were prepared to accept the status quo - a de facto peace - but Israel imposed on them the Arafat Gang with the old Arab mentality - rejection of any peace with Israel. The first thing that the PLO did upon return was to close down the opposition newspapers and fire every independent journalist. "After Oslo, Palestinians thought we would have lightly armed police to keep public order. But when we saw these guys with submachine guns, we exclaimed: "This is not police - this is fedayeen'. They made it clear right away: 'We came back to continue the struggle. It is more convenient to fight Israel from here than from Tunisia.' "The 'police' installed a dozen armed structures, all in the business of robbery, rape, and extortion. A relative of mine had a store next door to a headquarters. These 'officers' would come in every day, take whatever they wanted, and tell him to put it on the organization's account. When the amount reached 15,000 shekels, they arrested the owner and accused him of being an Israeli spy. They kept him in the basement for three days and let him go only when he agreed to forget the debt. When he came home, he prayed to Allah to erase these 'headquarters'. A few months later, Israelis bombed the building. He called me saying: 'Allah heard my prayers!' Any Palestinian can tell you a dozen stories like this. "Israeli Operation Defensive Shield made Palestinians more free by putting the PA security services out of business, which reduced the number of rapes, acts of extortion, and torture. "Israel keeps misleading us by sending wrong signals. They say Arafat is no longer a partner, but Sharon is about to meet with Abu Ala, and Omri Sharon meets with Rajoub. But among the Palestinians everybody knows them as Arafat's people. And so the Palestinians think that in fact Israel is plotting to make Arafat strong ... You should either acknowledge you're working with him or get rid of his gang once and forever. Be straight and consistent. Tell the truth. "Jerusalem Arabs want to keep their permanent resident status; they see what is going on in the West Bank and what Arafat has done to them ... They panic; they say, Labor wants to hand us over to Arafat and Labor wants to bring Hamas to Jerusalem. Israel could turn them into an example for other Arabs: if you are loyal permanent residents in Israel, you will live as well as Israelis do. "Palestinians want to go back to the pre-1987 situation, when one could travel from Ramallah to Ramat Gan, to earn money and go back home, without Arafat or check points. "You must force Lebanon and Syria to remove limitations on Palestinian refugees - let them settle where they want and let them work. Don't say they need to disband the camps. Force them to remove the limitations on leaving, and Palestinians will leave the camps of their own will. "You must disarm all of Arafat's armed forces and leave only a civilian adminstration. If you don't do it now, Arafat will be followed by thousands more 'arafats'. "Enter the territories, disarm all the 'security services', and stay there. If you let the people know you are there to stay, that you will not allow the jihadists to return and multiply, people will believe in you and help you. "Palestinians will not fight for Arafat. Intifada is not a popular revolt; it's a war conducted by several armed groups. "The only other alternative you have is to go back and hide behind the 1967 borders, and then prepare for the worst. Hamas in the Old City and French Hill, and the total war for destruction. Then both Jews and Arabs will die. "No one will say any of this in the open. First you must enter the territories and prove you're serious. And then I'll give you 500 influential Arabs who will support you." May G-D Himself open the eyes of Israel's leaders to the cry of this courageous man! ==================================== |
| FREEMAN CENTER FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES P.O. Box 35661 - Houston, TX 77235-5661 URL: www.freeman.org - Email: bernards@sbcglobal.net |