When Arab terrorists blew up an Israeli civilian bus on Monday, Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat did not bother to issue any condemnation in the Arabic language for many hours, though his regime subsequently published a vague statement that it “had condemned attacks that target Israeli civilians.”
Two days later Arafat and his aides have shifted gears and are doing three things:
*–blaming Israel for the attack;
*–actually citing the attack as proof that they will defeat Israel;
*–and promising more attacks unless Israel agrees to all Palestinian demands.
“There are Israeli tanks all over Jenin (where the bus bombers originated) , but the problem isn’t Jenin,” declared the Palestinian Governor of Jenin, Hader Al-Sheid, in an interview today.
“The problem is (Israeli) occupation, and there will continue to be operations [i.e. attacks on Israelis] as long as there is an occupation,” declared Al-Sheid, who was speaking on Arafat’s Voice of Palestine radio in Arabic.
But the grusome power of the attack has shocked Israelis even normally sympathetic to the Palestinians, such as the usually placid Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who said Arafat’s regime bore much responsibility for the attack because it had not tried to stop terrorists.
The force of the 200 pounds of explosives was so great, and the fire it set off so intense, that even two days after the attack many of the victims were still not identified.
But in the aftermath of the attack, Arafat–through his top aides–has now pulled back even on the mealy-mouthed “condemnation” as leading officials of the Palestinian Authority now blame Israel for the grisly bus attack in which 14 people were murdered and more than 50 people were wounded.
“These attacks come to say that there will not be security for you while you kill Palestinians, while you kill children and women and men and while you destroy houses and rip out olive orchards, when you commit all your crimes with your military power,” declared Ahmad Abdul-Rahman, PA Cabinet Secretary and one of Arafat’s most trusted aides
Abdul-Rahman’s remarks were the featured interview attraction in the prime-time morning radio news of the Voice of Palestine which is strictly monitored by Arafat himself.
“This one operation [i.e. the bus attack] shows that the military policy cannot succeed, and any Israeli government that pursues a military option will only fail,” asserted Abdul-Rahman in the Tuesday morning news feature interview.
“And I can only expect that the Sharon Government will not continue to rule for long inside Israel,” added the Palestinian Cabinet secretary.
Abdul-Rahman seemed especially angry with Peres, the man who had pushed for signing agreements with Arafat, who had now criticized the Palestinian leader.
“Really, Peres is the other face, the uglier face, of Sharon,” said Abdul-Rahman, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
“They are but two faces for the same act,” continued Arafat’s top aide.
“Both of them are carrying out the racist Zionist line (policy) against the Palestinian people–whether by weapons and tanks or by words and diplomacy.”
Abdul-Rahman said Israel planned to liquidate all Palestinians
“The Israeli path calls for the complete killing of every Palestinian,” he intoned.
Referring to the attack in northern Israel, Abdul-Rahman said, “Really, no matter what is said about the targeting of civilians in these operations [i.e. the Palestinian terror attacks], in reality the Israeli side is only interested in a military solution for the Palestinians.”
The Palestinian cabinet secretary lambasted Israeli leaders for what he insinuated was their knee-jerk criticism of the PA after Palestinian terror attacks.
“Every time an attack of this kind occurs the Israeli government accuses the (Palestinian) National Authority. What is this??? What does this mean? It’s clear that they don’t want peace with the Palestinians. They don’t want to see a Palestinian state”
At several points in the ten-minute interview, Abdul-Rahman cited the success of the terror attack as proof of the lack of success of Israel’s military strategy, although he did not mention that Israel has succeeded in cutting down on Arab terror.
“I would say, like some of the Opposition in Israel, that this attack is only the latest sign of the continuing failure of Sharon’s military policy,” hammered Abdul-Rahman.
In other broadcasts Wednesday (Oct. 23), another aide of Arafat, PA Home Rule Minister Sa’eb Ariqat blamed the United States for not putting more pressure on Israel.
“We see a lot of talk from the United States, and we want to see action,” remarked Arikat whose mild anti-American tone has been more than matched by other statements and actions among officials inside the Arafat regime and its official media.
The Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam today (Oct. 23) plastered a cartoon of George Bush depicted as “The Washington Sniper”:
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Arikat and other PA officials have pointedly ignored the fact that Israel, at the request of the Bush Administration, has been opening up some border checkpoints to let Palestinian workers come into Israel as well as releasing more than 30-million dollars in frozen funds that it recently turned over to the Palestinian Authority.