Arab "peace plan" is PR strategy
to receive aid and isolate Israel

Goals of Arab peace initiative: Gain support for unity government, international blockade of Israel

by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook - March 29, 2007

While the world sees the Arab Summit peace initiative as a serious proposal, for the Palestinian Authority (PA) it is a well-orchestrated PR strategy that has nothing to do with bringing about peace. By proposing conditions it knows Israel can never accept, the PA hopes to renew international political and financial support for itself while isolating Israel as intransigent.

According to the new PA Foreign Minister Ziyad Abu Amr, the goals of the Arab Summit include "lifting from it [the PA] the international blockade.” In exchange, he says, "Israel must be put under an international blockade."

A cartoon in today's official PA daily stresses that the goal is to receive foreign money. The words "Arab Summit" are written in the shape of a key to release a Palestinian Authority imprisoned by the financial blockade.

At the heart of the Arab plan are three demands that every Israeli government and the overwhelming majority of Israelis have rejected repeatedly:

- Israel’s moving from its current borders to the 1949-1967 ceasefire lines
- Israel’s giving away parts of Jerusalem
- Israel’s absorbing millions of Arab residents of refugee camps

The Arab world is presenting these demands as a take-it-or-leave-it proposal: “[PA] Information Minister, Dr. Mustafa Al-Barghuthi…reiterated the Palestinian stance, which opposes any change in the Arab initiative.”

By packaging the plan as the first sincere peace offer from the Arab world, the PA hopes the plan will appeal to the international community – even though PA leaders know full well that Israel cannot accept it.

As part of the strategy to paint Israel into a diplomatic corner, PA leaders are praising this plan as the last and only chance for peace. Even though he knows the plan is a non-starter, for example, PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas called it the “only chance for peace,” and said, “I think the Arab initiative is the most precious and important [plan] proposed since 1948 for a solution of the Palestinian problem and the occupation.” [Palestine Times, March 28, 2007]

The purpose of this public relations initiative, therefore, is to gain international economic aid and political recognition for the Palestinian Authority government. It also cleverly camouflages the fact that this government is partnered with Hamas, which still presents the destruction of Israel and the genocide of Jews as God's unchanging imperative. According to the PA plan, Europe will accept this deal and Israel will be isolated as the spoiler of peace.

Below are further translations related to the Arab League proposal:

Palestinian Authority Information Minister, Dr. Mustafa Al-Barghuthi:

"[PA] Information Minister, Dr. Mustafa Al-Barghuthi expressed his opposition to any Israeli attempt and to any pressure for change in the Arab initiative in the Riyadh summit. Al-Barghuthi reiterated the Palestinian stance, which opposes any change in the Arab initiative, and in particular, the pressures put forth for a change in the initiative’s clauses related to the Palestinian refugees’ return. He confirmed the adherence to the refugees’ right of return to their land and their property, which they were banished from, and to grant them their rights, as was established in the UN resolution 194."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 23, 2007]

Dr. Ziyad Abu Amr, PA Foreign Minister. First he speaks of it as a chance for peace, and then he talks about all the political benefits of accepting the plan. He also says he knows Israel will ruin this chance for peace, and international isolation will be result:

‘For the first time, the Arabs here are united on a practical and applicable peace initiative. The Arab initiative has the benefit of a consensus, and now it has gained the world’s attention, and even the Israelis are talking about the important foundations of a peace initiative.… The Arab Summit can give a great support to the national unity government, not only on the economic level, but also political support, so that it will have a significant voice in international circles and especially in Europe… and that the Palestinian issue will receive the necessary support, and that the summit will succeed in promising cooperation and recognition in the national unity government and lifting from it the international blockade… The Arab efforts to achieve just and inclusive peace in the region must continue, and Israel must be put under an international blockade, if it insists on rejecting what is being generally accepted by the Arabs and the international community… From our experience, Israel avoids and tries to destroy any effort that has a chance of succeeding.’ [Al-Ayyam, March 28, 2007]

Editorial in today's Al Quds:

"The Arab capitals… have no illusions about the intentions of the Israeli government who oppose peace… When the Riyadh summit throws the ball to the Israel’s side, then this state will be exposed to the international community, following ten years of putting the blame on the Arab side, and especially the Palestinian side."
[Al Quds, March 29, 2007]

“Islam will enter every house
and will spread over the entire world,”
says Hamas leader Al-Zahar

by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook - March 26, 2007

While the Hamas goal of destroying Israel is well known, its aspiration for Islamic subjugation of the entire world is just as basic to Hamas dogma. Both aims appear in the Hamas Charter as God's irrepressible will, and both aims were reiterated this week by senior Hamas leader and former PA Foreign Minister Mahmoud Al-Zahar.

At a mass rally in memory of Hamas founder Ahmad Yassin, Al-Zahar said that the Quran promises the "liberation of all of Palestine," meaning the destruction of Israel. He went so far as to challenge the Islamic faith of those who deny this goal: "No one can deny it. One who denies it must check his faith and his Islam.”

Regarding the Hamas religious goal of Islamic world domination, he said: “Islam will enter every house and will spread over the entire world.”

Below is the translation of Al-Zahar’s speech:

[Mahmoud] Al-Zahhar spoke at the mass rally held on the memorial day for Sheikh Ahmad Yassin…

Al-Zahhar emphasized that the Islamic Movement’s [Hamas'] position concerning the problem of the liberation of Palestine is clear and known, and said: "We have two important foundations: One is Quranic and the other is prophetic. The Quranic: The divine promise made in the ‘Al-Israa Sura’ [Chapter 17] is that we will liberate the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, 'and we will enter it as we have entered it the first time.' [paraphrasing Sura 17 (The Night Journey), verse 7]. And the prophetic foundation is the message of the prophet Muhammad, that Islam will enter every house and will spread over the entire world."

And added: "Our position is the liberation of Palestine, all of Palestine. This is the final and strategic solution for us. There is a Quranic message for us, that we will enter the Al-Aqsa mosque, and the entrance to the mosque means the entrance into all of Palestine. This is the message, no one can deny it. Anyone who denies it must check his faith and his Islam.” [Al-Ayyam, March 25, 2007]

Four-year-old girl vows to be suicide terrorist in Hamas TV dramatization
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, March 21, 2007

Hamas TV broadcast today a video dramatization of the four-year-old daughter of female suicide bomber Reem Riyashi singing to her dead mother and vowing to follow in her footsteps. The video clip ends as the little girl picks up sticks of explosives from her mother's drawer.

The Al Aqsa TV children's program shows a child actress playing the daughter, watching Riyashi preparing the bomb and asking her mother, "Mommy, what are you carrying in your arms instead of me? A toy or a present for me?" She later sees a TV news story about her mother's suicide mission and death, and realizes her mother had been carrying a bomb.

"Only now, I know what was more precious than us . . . " she sings of the bomb.

Although she misses her mother, she vows to follow in her footsteps. The video ends as she opens her mother's drawer and picks up the sticks of explosives her mother had left there.

Background:
Reem Riyashi killed four Israelis and wounded seven at the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel in 2004. She gained the sympathy of the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint by telling them that she had a metal plate in her leg that would trigger the metal detector. After she was taken to a room to be searched privately, she detonated the bomb hidden under her clothes.

Click here to see the video clip

The following is the text of the song that Duha, Reem's daughter, sings to her mother:

[Daughter sees mother preparing explosives sticks]

"Mommy, what are you carrying
in your arms instead of me?

[Mother turns to hide bomb]

A toy or a present for me?...
Mommy Reem!
Why did you put on your veil?
Are you going out, Mommy?...
Come back quickly, Mommy
I can't sleep without you,
unless you tell me and Ubaydah [her brother] a bedtime story.

[Daughter sees mother's picture and news story about bombing on PA TV]

My mother, my mother,
Me and Ubaydah are awake and waiting for you
to come to put us to sleep.
Me and Ubaydah, oh Mommy,
still need you to wipe our tears...
Instead of me you carried a bomb in your hands.
Only now, I know what was more precious than us...
May your steps be blessed,
and may you be flawless for Jerusalem.
Me and Ubaydah wish we were there with you.

[Images of her mother's grave and the graves of other terrorists,
including Aayat Al-Akhras, 17-year-old female suicide terrorist]

Send greetings to our Messenger [Muhammad] and tell him:
'Duha loves you.'
My love will not be [merely] words.
I am following Mommy in her steps.

[Finds explosives that mother left in her drawer,
picks up stick of explosives]

Oh Mommy, oh Mommy."

Click here to see the video clip

Some Imams incite to
kill women, beat children: PA Academic
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook - March 15, 2007

In an open challenge to Palestinian leadership, Dr. Nadir Sa'id of Bir Zeit University condemned the violence in Palestinian society and placed the blame on the political and religious leaders. He blamed both Fatah and Hamas, including the Prime Minister and others ministers, for hundreds of killings. He condemned some Imams who preach the killing of women and beating of children. He criticized these actions, as well as the hate incitement that has created a Palestinian society permeated with violence. Children have learned that the use of violence achieves power and influence.

This self-criticism is rare in the PA media. If it continues, this is a positive development.

Click here to see Dr. Sa'id's condemnation of Palestinian leadership

The following are some of Sa'id's criticisms by topic, followed by an extended transcript.

Dr. Nadir Sa'id, director of Development Studies at Bir Zeit University:

About Palestinian children:

"The message to Palestinian children is that if you use violence...you can achieve influence and you can achieve rule."

"A whole generation was raised on the denial of the 'other' and erasing him completely, and to the possibility of killing him without any restraint or problem.”

About Incitement against women and others:

"There are Imams who incite to killing: killing of women, beating children, killing the 'other.'"

"What happened in Palestine in the last years is speech incitement of the highest degree. Violence speech of the highest degree in mosques, and occasionally in the media, from many politicians."

“There is no denying that crime, in general, needs environmental conditions, and especially environmental conditions of violence and environmental conditions of incitement speech."

About Palestinian Violence:

"There is a kind of conspiracy not to punish the criminals. Hundreds of Palestinians were killed in the recent struggle between Fatah and Hamas… Who will punish those who gave the orders? Who will punish those who committed [the crimes]? Who will punish the people who remained silent...?"

About Palestinian Authority leadership:

"The next government [of Hamas with Fatah]…is a crime against Palestinian society."

"The prime minister and many of the ministers and security apparatuses are the ones who eased and facilitated…the killing of hundreds of Palestinians."

"Who will punish those who caused the killing of these children, these women, these men…this is a political crime of the highest level.”

The following are selections from the interview with Dr. Sa'id:

"The last months in particular proved without a doubt the existence of political crime [in Palestinian society], and it is related to the attempt to achieve a high level of power, control and influence … The political struggle for rule. One of the primary and clear forms, which draws attention, having powerful and clear influence, and which caused hundreds of deaths, is clearly the crimes committed in the struggle for influence in the [Palestinian] Authority. But there are other types, including the attempt to threaten opposition, threaten those who disagree…

What is important regarding political crime, and especially in the Palestinian situation, is that there is a kind of conspiracy not to punish the criminals. This is the big problem. Hundreds of Palestinians were killed in the recent struggle between Fatah and Hamas. First: Who will punish those who facilitated these violent environmental conditions? Who will punish those who gave the orders? Who will punish those who committed [the crimes]? Who will punish the people who remained silent and did not hesitate to justify this type of violence?

What we see now, and this is the basic problem in the culture regarding the culture of violence, is that what has happened, he who killed here and there, is now appointed as a minister in the [Palestinian] National Authority. That is, it is a clear message.

The message to Palestinian children is that if you use violence and succeed in benefiting from it in the political struggle, you can achieve influence and you can achieve rule. In my opinion, the next government, and in particular between the two parties competing in its establishment, is, in my opinion, a crime against Palestinian society, especially when the prime minister and many of the ministers and security apparatuses are the ones who eased and facilitated - in addition to the Imams of the mosques, and the preachers and others - who eased and facilitated the killing of hundreds of Palestinians.

Who will punish those who caused, directly and indirectly, the killing of these children, these women, these men who have no guilt in this struggle? This is, in my opinion, a political crime of the highest level.”

There is no denying that crime, in general, needs environmental conditions, and especially environmental conditions of violence and environmental conditions of incitement speech. What happened in Palestine in the last years is speech incitement of the highest degree. Violence speech of the highest degree in mosques, and occasionally in the media, from many politicians... If we examine the sermons in mosques, we find many of them, not all – on the contrary! There are a number of Imams who promote social peace - but there are Imams who incite to killing: killing of women, beating children, killing the “other”, rejection of the “other’s” opinion. A whole generation was raised on the denial of the “other” and erasing him completely, and to the possibility of killing him without any restraint or problem.”
[PA TV, March 6, 2007]

Hamas TV:
Gaza evacuation by Israel
leads to destruction of Israel
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook - March 14, 2007

Hamas’s new Al Aqsa Satellite TV broadcasts numerous political messages during its daily programming. The message that has been repeating most frequently this month is a statement made by Ahmad Yassin, founder and former head of Hamas, who was killed by Israel. The statement was made in response to Israel's plan to evacuate Israeli towns in Gaza Strip in 2005.

Yassin's message was that the Palestinians had found the key to destroying Israel. Since terror was forcing Israel to leave its towns in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians would now only have to keep up the terror in Israel's other cities and Israel would run from those as well.

"Tel Aviv is gone… If death and murder chase them in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Netanya and everywhere among them, then they will say: '… I want to flee and go back to Europe and America.'”

Fatah and Hamas have been competing for years in taking credit for the terror that they say forced the government of Ariel Sharon to decide to leave Israeli towns in the Gaza Strip. The frequency that this has been playing on Hamas TV – for example, seven times on March 12th alone -- indicates how important this political message is to Hamas.

Click here to see the Yassin political message on Hamas TV

The following is the transcript of Ahmad Yassin, founder and former head of Hamas, reacting to Israel's planned evacuation of Israeli towns in Gaza Strip in 2005.
Broadcast numerous times daily in March 2007 - 7 times on March 12:

“Sharon, said yesterday that 'Nezarim [Israeli town in Gaza Strip] is [like] Tel Aviv.' Today he says: 'The day is near when we will leave Gaza.' That’s it, it’s lost, Tel Aviv is gone. They are defeated, they have no words left. ... When this process will end, they will become a state with no ability, helpless. They established a state to protect the Jews from death and murder. If death and murder chase them in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Netanya and everywhere among them, then they will say: 'What am I doing here? I founded a state to protect me from death, and if death chases me, I want to flee and go back to Europe and America.'”
[Al Aqsa TV, numerous times daily, March 2007]

Hamas Legislator demands kidnapping of more Israeli soldiers
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook- March 12, 2007

"Fathi Hamad, Hamas member of Palestinian Legislative Council, demanded the kidnapping of more Israeli soldiers in order to force Israel to free the [Palestinian] prisoners… Hamad said this at a gathering of the "Wa'ed" organization for prisoners and released [prisoners] in Khan Yunis ... Hamad stressed it was the responsibility of the government, the Legislative Council, the [armed] factions and military arms to dedicate all the efforts at their disposal to free the prisoners. He argued that the kidnapping of the soldier Gilad Shalit hit Israel very hard." [Al Ayyam, March 10, 2007]

Washington Times front page story:
PMW special report on US funding of Palestinian universities that promote terror

To see full PMW special report click here

WASHINGTON TIMES
School linked to Hamas gets US cash
By Joel Mowbray - March 5, 2007

Millions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid have been given in the past several years to two Palestinian universities—one of them controlled by Hamas—that have participated in the advocacy, support or glorification of terrorism. The funding—principally in scholarships to individual students—is being eyed by several members of Congress and their aides, who say they may violate U.S. law.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided more than $140,000 in assistance to the Hamas-controlled Islamic University in Gaza—including scholarships to 49 of its students—since Congress changed the law in 2004 to restrict aid to entities or individuals “involved in or advocating terrorist activity.”

No U.S. assistance was directed to Islamic University last year, but USAID continues to fund multimillion-dollar programs through the American Near East Refugee Aid program (ANERA), which is building a high-tech facility for the school. U.S. law requires that any recipient of U.S. aid have no association with terrorists.

USAID also gave $2.3 million in aid last year to Al-Quds University, which has student groups affiliated with designated terrorist organizations on campus and last month held a weeklong celebration of the man credited with designing and building the first suicide belts more than a decade ago.

“It is outrageous that U.S. taxpayer dollars are going toward institutions that support terrorists,” said Rep. Gary Ackerman, New York Democrat and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. “These loopholes must be closed so that taxpayer funds are used for their intended purpose and not to subsidize terrorism and the promotion of hatred towards Israel and the United States.”

Rep. Nita Lowey, New York Democrat and chairwoman of the committee responsible for USAID funding, said, “It goes without saying that U.S. taxpayer dollars should absolutely never be used for advocating or honoring terrorist activity. Support for terrorists and terrorism in any shape or form is unacceptable.”

USAID adamantly denies that it has violated any laws. “Every grant we give, every bit of assistance we provide, we do in a way that is fully compliant with the law,” said a USAID official, who agreed to talk only on the condition of anonymity.

In the case of Islamic University, the official said, USAID vetted the school president, the vice president of academic affairs and the dean of the library. It provided $12,000 worth of computers and materials to the school’s library. Students are vetted for connections to terrorism before being granted scholarships, the official added, but, “We don’t follow every student and track every meeting they go to.” Unlike other U.S. aid recipients, the scholarship students have not been required to sign pledges not to participate in terrorism.

The latest Congressional interest in USAID’s funding in the West Bank and Gaza was triggered by a report from the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), a pro-Israel group which monitors the Palestinian press. Included in the report were translations of several Palestinian newspaper articles that discuss the activities of student chapters of Hamas and Islamic Jihad at Al Quds University and other Palestinian schools assisted by USAID since 2005. Hamas and Islamic Jihad both are on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations.

The USAID official did not deny that student groups affiliated with terrorist organizations were on campuses of schools assisted by the agency, but stressed that such organizations receive minimal support from the schools and are not part of “the official administrative structure.”

Aides to several Congressmen said they were most troubled by USAID assistance to Islamic University in Gaza City, which is openly controlled by Hamas leaders. The organization held a two-day conference in 2005 on the “martyrdom” of former Hamas spiritual leader and founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2004. Sheikh Yassin founded the school in 1978.

Sheikh Yassin and former Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi both used Islamic University as a base, as has Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister in the Hamas-led Palestinian government and a member of the school's board of trustees.

Sixteen Islamic University lecturers and teachers are elected Hamas members of the Palestinian legislature. In 2005, 78 percent of the student council vote went to Hamas, according to a Palestinian newspaper article provided by Palestinian Media Watch.

When challenged by Congress last year on its assistance to the school, USAID noted that the funding was not renewed in 2006. Nonetheless, the agency is providing millions in grants to ANERA, which is building a high-tech facility in Gaza City for the university. California-based Intel Corp. is underwriting the project.

In a document USAID sent to Congress last year, USAID wrote that ANERA "is required to ensure that no assistance is provided to terrorist organizations or individuals associated with terrorist activities, regardless of whether or not the activity involves USG funding."

Also causing Congressional concern is a PMW report that Al-Quds University last month held a weeklong celebration honoring Yahya Ayyash, the Hamas leader known as "the shahid (martyr) engineer." He is credited with creating the first suicide belts in the mid-1990s and training the next generation of suicide bomb makers.

The opening event, as reported by a Palestinian newspaper and found in the PMW report, included a speech by university administrator Yusuf Dhiyab, “who discussed shahids and the mark that the shahids left on the history of the Palestinian nation and how they succeeded in uniting the nation.”

In September, USAID announced an "extraordinary one-time" issuance of 2,000 scholarships for Palestinian students attending Al Quds University at a total cost of $2.2 million, according to USAID. Simultaneously, USAID provided $100,000 in "in-kind assistance" to Al Quds University.

In a written statement, USAID said Al Quds University requested emergency assistance last summer, and the $2.3 million was offered because “strong U.S. support existed for assistance to moderate Palestinian leaders.” The statement singled out Al Quds University President Sari Nusseibeh as “one such prominent and respected figure.”

But Mr. Nusseibeh appeared on the al-Jazeera satellite channel in 2002 with Hamas politbureau chief Khaled Mashaal and Um Nidal, the mother of a suicide bomber, according to a PMW translation:

"What comes to mind as I listen to comrade (lit. sister) Um Nidal is the verse Paradise is under the feet of the mothers, " he said. " Praise is due to this woman, and to every Palestinian mother, and to every Palestinian female resistance fighter and Jihad fighter on this land."

(This text underwent minor editing from the print copy)

To see other examples from PMW's archives click here

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