Israel Matzav

One document in English and one in Arabic

The reason that organizations like Palestinian Media Watch and MEMRI started is because it took a while for the world to catch on that the 'Palestinians' and other Arabs were saying what the West wanted to hear in English and telling their own people something else in Arabic. In fact, much of the world still hasn't caught on, but at least those of us who are open to hearing use these invaluable organizations and others to know the truth of what the Arab world is planning against Israel.

The master of speaking out of both sides of his mouth in two languages was Yasser Arafat, the leader of the PLO and Fatah. His best student was his colleague Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen. Much of the world media is reporting that Abu Mazen told the Fatah conference on Tuesday that Fatah wants 'peace' with Israel, but that 'resistance' remains an option. Take, for example, this report from Reuters (Hat Tip: Little Green Footballs).

President Mahmoud Abbas told his Fatah movement’s first congress in 20 years on Tuesday that Palestinians sought peace with Israel but “resistance” would remain an option.

...

"Although peace is our choice, we reserve the right to resistance, legitimate under international law," Abbas said in a policy speech opening the congress, using a term that encompasses armed confrontation as well as non-violent protests.

Officials said a draft of Fatah's program called for new forms of resistance, such as civil disobedience, against Jewish settlement expansion and a West Bank barrier Israel says is for security but which Palestinians see as a land grab.

The draft leaves the option of "armed struggle" on the charter of Fatah if talks with Israel fail, and does not rule out a unilateral declaration of statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip if negotiations remain at a stalemate.

But Abbas stressed to the congress that Fatah had endorsed the 1993 Oslo Accords which specifically recognize Israel, and was abiding by all of its obligations under the 2003 "road map" to peace and a two-state agreement with Israel.

The media - or at least Reuters - has fallen lock, stock and barrel for the 'Palestinian' bluff. The document that Reuters apparently obtained is the 'political program' - the one that was meant for Western consumption. But there was a second document discussed at the Fatah convention that was only for internal consumption, and it presented a far more insidious program than what most of the media has reported. That document is called the 'internal order.'

Developing the Nil'in-Bil'in model of struggle is problematic because it can easily deteriorate into violence, as past experience shows, but the real problem lies in the Internal Order document. All of the phrases that were omitted in the Political Program are present in this would-be "bureaucratic" document. The term "armed popular struggle" appears at the very beginning. While the Political Program sought to subordinate the struggle to the need for "international legitimacy," the Internal Order is very clear in rejecting all international peace initiatives: "The projects, agreements, and resolutions that were issued or will be issued by the UN or group of states or any separate state on the Palestinian problem that waives the rights of the Palestinians on their homeland is null and void."3

Furthermore, Article 22 calls for: "objection by force to all political solutions that are offered as an alternative to the extermination of the occupying Zionist entity in Palestine and all the projects that aim for the elimination of the Palestinian problem, or seek to internationalize it or put an outside custodian on its people from any possible party."4 This article is in contradiction to the call in the Political Program for greater international involvement in the problem and its welcome for the involvement of international forces in Palestine.

Article 9 states clearly that "the liberation of the Holy Land and the defense of its holy sites (that are forbidden to infidels) is an Arab, Muslim, and humanitarian duty."5

...

And here we come to the essence: Fatah retains the armed struggle as a strategy in order to liberate the whole of Palestine and eliminate Israel. Article 12 calls for "the liberation of Palestine completely and the elimination of the state of the Zionist occupation economically, politically, militarily, and culturally."6 (Indeed, one of the methods mentioned in the Political Program for the "peaceful intifada" is an economic boycott of Israel.)

Article 13 calls for "establishing a sovereign democratic Palestinian state on the entire Palestinian territory that will preserve the legitimate rights of the citizens on the basis of justice and equality without discrimination on the basis of race, religion and belief, and Jerusalem will be its capital."7 While the Political Program lists the "one-state solution" as an option in case the "two-state solution" fails, the Internal Order document mentions the "one-state solution" as the only solution.

Article 17 says: "The armed popular revolution is the only inevitable way to the liberation of Palestine."8

Finally, Article 19 notes: "The armed struggle is a strategy and not just a tactic and the armed revolution of the Arab Palestinian people is a decisive factor in the war of liberation and the elimination of the Zionist existence, and the struggle will not end until the elimination of the Zionist entity and the liberation of Palestine."9

What the 'internal order' shows is that the only difference between Fatah and Hamas might be that Hamas wants an Islamic caliphate while Fatah does not. But both groups' opposition to Israel's continued existence is perfectly synchronized.

Abu Mazen learned from the master. Most of the media has apparently missed the 'internal order.'

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:49 PM