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Abd Al-Bari Atwan, former editor-in-chief of the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, recently said that Yasser Arafat, realizing that his initiative had "crashed on the rock of Israeli rejection," decided to ignite the Second Intifada. "Why don't we see the same thing happening in the West Bank?" he asked.
Following are excerpts from the interview, which aired on the Lebanese Mayadeen TV channel on July 29, 2014:
Abd Al-Bari Atwan: I was very close to the martyred president Yasser Arafat. Through my meetings with him, I closely observed the period of preparation for the Second Intifada. After the Camp David summit, President Yasser Arafat realized that Israel would never relinquish a single inch of Palestinian land, and that an independent Palestinian state would not be established.
He realized that his initiative had crashed on the rock of Israeli rejection, so he decided to ignite the Second Intifada. President Arafat would send envoys all over the world to obtain weapons. The Second Intifada started when he called for school students to take to the streets and demonstrate.
He called for the mobilization of the Palestinian people – first using peaceful means, and later using military means. He was able to shake Israel. We heard Shimon Peres begging: "Give us just one week without funerals, in order to solve the problem." Then came the Quartet and the Roadmap, and the entire world was shaken.
Why don't we see the same thing happening in the West Bank?
[...]
By God, I know full well that President Arafat would bring weapons from Hizbullah in South Lebanon, and would send them to Hamas and the resistance in Gaza and the West Bank. This is the spirit that unifies us, even if ideologically, Hamas is the exact opposite of Fatah. Despite this, resistance is what unites [the factions] and what gives legitimacy.
[...]
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