Fatah Central Committee Member Jibril Rajoub: Fatah Will Not Lay Down Its Swords Until the Refugees Return, Resistance Is Its Strategic Choice

Following are excerpts from an address delivered by Fatah Central Committee member Jibirl Rajoub, which aired on Palestinian Authority TV on November 29, 2012.

Jibril Rajoub: What brother Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] is doing is living proof of the independence of our decision making and our will. This is the sacred message borne by the greatest Palestinian since Jesus – Yasser Arafat. It runs in the genes of all the Palestinians. We are all Arafatists, and we are loyal to your blood, oh Abu Ammar, whose death we commemorate this month: We shall only return our swords to their sheaths when the [Palestinian] state is established, your hopes are realized, and the refugees return.

Let me tell you that the refugees’ return is sacred to Fatah and to all Palestinians. Resistance in all its forms is the strategic choice of Fatah. Let us agree – and we are ready for that – that if there is shooting, we will shoot, and if there are demonstrations, we will demonstrate.

[...]