PA daily columnist: International law gives Palestinians the right to use "terror"against Israel
Op-ed by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, columnist for official PA daily and advisor to former PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on national affairs. This article was published during the 2014 Gaza war as Hamas was firing thousands of rockets at Israel and as Israel was responding with Operation Protective Edge, which aimed at destroying Hamas' terror infrastructure and ability to launch rockets at Israel.
“Neither Israel, nor any other country, has the right to accuse a Palestinian defending himself of ‘terrorism,’ because international law and international resolution 3236 of 1974, published by the UN, granted the Palestinian people the option of using all forms of struggle, including armed struggle, until its national objectives – the liberation from the occupation, the establishment of the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and the granting of the right of return of the Palestinian refugees according to the international [UN] resolution 194 – are achieved.”
Note: PA leaders and officials have legitimized Palestinian violence by quoting UN resolution 3236 which "recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to regain its rights by all means." The PA interprets "all means" as including violence against civilians, but has chosen to ignore the continuation of the resolution which states that the use of "all means" should be "in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations..." The UN Charter prohibits targeting civilians, even in war. Chapter 1, Article 1, opens by saying that the "international disputes" should be resolved "by peaceful means."
UN resolution 194 (Chapter 11, Dec. 11, 1948) states that "the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return." Palestinian leaders argue this means that all Arabs who left Israel during the war (hundreds of thousands) and their descendants (a few million) have a "right of return" to Israel. Israel argues that the resolution only calls for a limited return and only under certain conditions, especially focusing on the words "wishing to return... and live at peace with their neighbors."
“Neither Israel, nor any other country, has the right to accuse a Palestinian defending himself of ‘terrorism,’ because international law and international resolution 3236 of 1974, published by the UN, granted the Palestinian people the option of using all forms of struggle, including armed struggle, until its national objectives – the liberation from the occupation, the establishment of the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and the granting of the right of return of the Palestinian refugees according to the international [UN] resolution 194 – are achieved.”
Note: PA leaders and officials have legitimized Palestinian violence by quoting UN resolution 3236 which "recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to regain its rights by all means." The PA interprets "all means" as including violence against civilians, but has chosen to ignore the continuation of the resolution which states that the use of "all means" should be "in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations..." The UN Charter prohibits targeting civilians, even in war. Chapter 1, Article 1, opens by saying that the "international disputes" should be resolved "by peaceful means."
UN resolution 194 (Chapter 11, Dec. 11, 1948) states that "the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return." Palestinian leaders argue this means that all Arabs who left Israel during the war (hundreds of thousands) and their descendants (a few million) have a "right of return" to Israel. Israel argues that the resolution only calls for a limited return and only under certain conditions, especially focusing on the words "wishing to return... and live at peace with their neighbors."