Former Fatah top official Dahlan: Palestinians lose international support because of “armed struggle”

Former Fatah top official Muhammad Dahlan: “Israel has attempted and succeeded… in removing the legal cover from every Palestinian national action: … from armed struggle, from politics, from protests, from peaceful demonstrations – even if you throw a rose at an Israeli soldier it will be considered forbidden and illegal. Every kind of resistance is turned into a crime. We are a people under occupation, and we have the right to resist the occupation in a way that international law allows. But we prefer different and diverse ways, everything in its proper time and place. The first popular Intifada in 1987 was a popular intifada – children, women, leaders, adults, and youth participated in it – and therefore we achieved international sympathy. We lost in a number of battles in the second Intifada because it was armed.”

Muhammad Dahlan - Palestinian politician, former Fatah official, and former head of the PA Preventive Security Force in the Gaza Strip (1993-2002). Dahlan now lives in the UAE after he fell out with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and had to leave the West Bank in 2011, later being convicted in absentia by the PA for fraud and sentenced to prison. Dahlan has been mentioned as one of the candidates to succeed Abbas.

The first Intifada - Palestinian wave of violence and terror against Israel 1987-1993, approximately 200 Israelis murdered

The second Intifada – PA terror campaign (2000-2005) in which more than 1,100 Israelis were murdered.