Palestinian Authority representative in Lebanon Abbas Zaki gave an interview to NBN TV on April 9, 2008. Zaki, aka Sharif Mash’al, is a former Palestinian Legislative Council member for Hebron, former Fatah operations head, and current PLO Central Council member. He headed the PLO Lebanon Committee and the Palestine National Liberation Army's political commissariat, and was an opponent of the Oslo Accords.[1]
The following are excerpts from the interview.
To view this clip, visit: http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/1738 .
Abbas Zaki: "We believe wholeheartedly that the Right of Return is guaranteed by our will, by our weapons, and by our faith."
Interviewer: "Do you still believe in weapons, not just in negotiations?"
Abbas Zaki: "The use of weapons alone will not bring results, and the use of politics without weapons will not bring results. We act on the basis of our extensive experience. We analyze our situation carefully. We know what climate leads to victory and what climate leads to suicide. We talk politics, but our principles are clear. It was our pioneering leader, Yasser Arafat, who persevered with this revolution, when empires collapsed. Our armed struggle has been going on for 43 years, and the political struggle, on all levels, has been going on for 50 years. We harvest U.N. resolutions, and we shame the world so that it doesn't gang up on us, because the world is led by people who have given their brains a vacation – the American administration and the neocons."
[...]
Young Palestinian: "As I recall, the invasion of 1982 and the destruction of South Lebanon was not just in response to missile attacks, but in response to operations as well. Israel does not use only the missiles as a pretext. It uses any activity of the resistance as a pretext."
Abbas Zaki: "The important thing is that in any operation, Israel will pay a price. We don't want cases in which you don't kill even a chicken, but Israel kills 20 of you. I salute any operation that makes Israel pay a heavy price.
[...]
"The PLO is the sole legitimate representative [of the Palestinian people], and it has not changed its platform even one iota. In light of the weakness of the Arab nation and the lack of values, and in light of the American control over the world, the PLO proceeds through phases, without changing its strategy. Let me tell you, when the ideology of Israel collapses, and we take, at least, Jerusalem, the Israeli ideology will collapse in its entirety, and we will begin to progress with our own ideology, Allah willing, and drive them out of all of Palestine."
