New York – A senior leader in Fatah, Ziyad Abu ‘Ein, the Palestinian terrorist group lead by Palestinian Authority (PA) president, Mahmoud Abbas, has admitted that the Oslo peace process provided the Palestinians with the means to launch what he termed a “great Palestinian intifadah,” the campaign of suicide bombing and terrorism against Israeli civilians since September 2000 that has claimed the lives of almost 2000 Israelis and wounded and maimed over 10,000 more.
Abu ‘Ein made this statement in an interview on Al-Alam TV earlier this month, stating that, although the Oslo accords had not been the “liberation of Palestine” [ i.e., the destruction of Israel] that the Palestinians sought, “there would have been no resistance in Palestine if not for Oslo. It was Oslo that strongly embraced the Palestinian resistance … If not for Oslo, there would have been no resistance. Throughout the occupied territories, we could not move a single pistol from one place to another. If not for Oslo, the weapons we got through Oslo, and if not for the “A” areas of the Palestinian Authority, if not for the training, the camps, the protection provided by Oslo, and if not for the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners through Oslo — this Palestinian resistance could not have carried out this great Palestinian Intifada, with which we confronted the Israeli occupation” (Al-Alam TV, July 4, translation courtesy of Middle East Media Review Institute (MEMRI), July 27).
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “This revealing interview with Abu ‘Ein confirms what the ZOA has been saying since the very beginning of the Oslo peace process — that Israel, tragically, dealt itself a major self-inflicted wound by empowering Palestinian terrorists who would not otherwise have had the capacity, weaponry, territory or resources to murder Israelis on such a scale. These Israeli concessions and the promotion of a Palestinian state by Israel and the West inspired and motivated Palestinian terrorists because they interpreted this as Israel was in retreat and that the Islamist jihadists were gaining ground against Israel. They felt that Israel was on the run and that this was the time to hit Israel when it appears weak.
“This interview also confirms that the idea of making yet further territorial concessions to the PA, in which the Islamist terrorist group Hamas is now in power and other terrorist movements thriving more than ever, would be utterly senseless, endanger Israel even further and expose Israel to still greater risk of mass casualties. If the Olmert government proceeds with further unilateral withdrawals in Judea and Samaria, Israel’s major population centers and even Ben-Gurion Airport will fall within rocket and mortar range of Palestinian terrorists. This would be a massive mistake Israel dare not make.”