Arafat in 1994: Oslo Accords will eventually cause Jews to flee Palestine "by the thousands"
Headline: “These are my personal impressions of Yasser Arafat: The story of the meeting that lasted a few minutes with the prince of Quwait after the invasion – the oath of Hafez Al-Assad – and the true opinion of Arab leaders”
“I admit that I was very close to the Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat, but the period when I was close to him was at the height of his lean years, particularly the period of the first Gulf War and after it (i.e., from 1990)… President Arafat was not willing to sign a permanent agreement with the Hebrew state, because he knew full well that that agreement would put him among the traitors in the annals of history, as it [the agreement] would be at the expense of conceding the right of return and most of the sovereignty over East Jerusalem.
I remember I met with him in his office in the Tunisian capital at the end of June in 1994, a few days before his return to the Gaza Strip, and he was isolated and broken…
(PMW paraphrase: The writer explains that all Arafat’s supporters had left him, some due to political reasons – the Oslo Accords – and some because he was financially broken because he had lost the support from the Gulf states.)
Arafat said to me at 3:00 a.m.: ‘Listen, Abd Al-Bari, I know that you are against the Oslo Accords, but always remember what I’m telling you – the day will come when you will see Jews fleeing Palestine by the thousands. I will not see it in my lifetime, but you will certainly see it in your lifetime. The Oslo Accords will help bring this about.' The Jews have not fled Palestine in the thousands as President Arafat prophesied, but they have begun to prepare to pack their suitcases in order to flee the Gaza Strip and a number of settlements on the West Bank. There are signs accumulating of negative immigration to European states, America, and Canada after the Martyrdom-seeking operations (i.e., suicide bombing attacks), and a lack of a feeling of security among Israelis.
President Arafat is the one who established the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, in response to the cancellation he was dealing with after the failure of the Camp David Talks. They were the negotioations in which Arafat was subjected to extraordinary American and Arab pressures to agree to a decreased sovereignty in Jerusalem. The paradox is that Arab leaders, including Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz, called him and demanded that he show flexibilty regarding the topic of Jerusalem.
In the name of truth and history, I will note that Mahmoud Abbas ‘Abu Mazen,’ Ahmed Qurei ‘Abu Alaa,’ and Akram Haniyeh led the hawks who opposed conceding the sovereignty over Jerusalem and the right of return at the Camp David negotiations. While the three – Muhammad Dahlan, Hassan Asfour, or Muhammad Rashid, Arafat’s financial advisor, were among the strong supporters of accepting the final version presented by [US] President Bill Clinton.”
“I admit that I was very close to the Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat, but the period when I was close to him was at the height of his lean years, particularly the period of the first Gulf War and after it (i.e., from 1990)… President Arafat was not willing to sign a permanent agreement with the Hebrew state, because he knew full well that that agreement would put him among the traitors in the annals of history, as it [the agreement] would be at the expense of conceding the right of return and most of the sovereignty over East Jerusalem.
I remember I met with him in his office in the Tunisian capital at the end of June in 1994, a few days before his return to the Gaza Strip, and he was isolated and broken…
(PMW paraphrase: The writer explains that all Arafat’s supporters had left him, some due to political reasons – the Oslo Accords – and some because he was financially broken because he had lost the support from the Gulf states.)
Arafat said to me at 3:00 a.m.: ‘Listen, Abd Al-Bari, I know that you are against the Oslo Accords, but always remember what I’m telling you – the day will come when you will see Jews fleeing Palestine by the thousands. I will not see it in my lifetime, but you will certainly see it in your lifetime. The Oslo Accords will help bring this about.' The Jews have not fled Palestine in the thousands as President Arafat prophesied, but they have begun to prepare to pack their suitcases in order to flee the Gaza Strip and a number of settlements on the West Bank. There are signs accumulating of negative immigration to European states, America, and Canada after the Martyrdom-seeking operations (i.e., suicide bombing attacks), and a lack of a feeling of security among Israelis.
President Arafat is the one who established the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, in response to the cancellation he was dealing with after the failure of the Camp David Talks. They were the negotioations in which Arafat was subjected to extraordinary American and Arab pressures to agree to a decreased sovereignty in Jerusalem. The paradox is that Arab leaders, including Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz, called him and demanded that he show flexibilty regarding the topic of Jerusalem.
In the name of truth and history, I will note that Mahmoud Abbas ‘Abu Mazen,’ Ahmed Qurei ‘Abu Alaa,’ and Akram Haniyeh led the hawks who opposed conceding the sovereignty over Jerusalem and the right of return at the Camp David negotiations. While the three – Muhammad Dahlan, Hassan Asfour, or Muhammad Rashid, Arafat’s financial advisor, were among the strong supporters of accepting the final version presented by [US] President Bill Clinton.”