Dear Editor:
Thomas Friedman ended his New York Times October 28th column "Have a nice life" article with the words that Israel is slowly committing suicide, with all the best arguments for reaching an agreement with the Palestinian leadership. On the contrary, any agreement with the Palestinian leadership which requires the divestiture of control of land is suicide for Israel.
One of the most important Palestinian Oslo obligations was a major change in their 1968 Amended 1964 Charter (Covenant) to destroy Israel.
During the Oslo negotiations, the Palestinian leadership engaged in a series of steps to bamboozle Israel and the world into believing that they had annulled several articles of their charter.
These are the articles that were allegedly annulled:
Article 6, Article 7, Article 8, Article 9, Article 10, Article 15, Article 19, Article 20, Article 21, Article 22, Article 23, Article 30.
Here's the catch: Article 33 of the charter states that no change can be made in the charter unless 2/3 of the Palestine National Council (PNC) members vote for a change.
Arafat alleged in his January 1998 letter to President Clinton that these twelve articles were annulled as a "result" of the April 1996 PNC resolution.
This is contrary to what the PNC voted for in April 1996.
This resolution merely stated in article 1 of the two-article resolution, that the PNC decided to amend the Palestinian National Charter by canceling articles opposing the exchange of letters between the PLO and the Israeli government.
Article 2 assigned to a legal committee the responsibility of redrafting the Palestinian National Charter and presenting it to the Palestinian Central Council (there is no mention of the PCC in the charter, however.)
There is no record that a legal committee was ever formed there is no record that a redrafted charter was ever created.
When the PNC and the other Palestinian leaders raised their arms on December 14, 1998 reaffirming Arafat's letter to President Clinton, the members of the PNC were reaffirming alleged annulments for which they never voted in April 1996. The other Palestinian leaders, by reaffirming Arafat's letter to President Clinton, reaffirmed an Arafat lie.
No reaffirmation of a lie can convert a lie into the truth.
If the members of the PNC really wanted to change the charter, all that was necessary was a 2/3 vote to annul each of these twelve articles. The PNC never has voted for such annulments; thus, the charter articles and the Palestinian leadership mindset to destroy Israel are still in effect.
Combine their failure to change the charter, with Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) and Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) translations of Palestinian leaders' speeches, TV, Mullah sermons, reference to terrorists as martyrs, naming streets for terrorists, plus other facts too numerous to mention, no objective observer could possible want to enter into any agreement with the Palestinian leadership today.
When Israel unilaterally decides that the Palestinian mindset to destroy Israel no longer exists, Israel will meet with the Palestinian leadership to discuss a real peace.
Have a nice life too, Mr. Friedman.
Respectfully,
William K. Langfan
