Arafat's widow, Suha
Arafat's widow, SuhaFlash 90

Yasser Arafat’s widow, Suha, admitted that the late leader of the “Palestinian” people had decided long before former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s contentious visit to the Temple Mount that he would launch a war of terror, a.k.a. “Intifada”, against the Jewish state.

Sharon’s visit unleashed a wave of intense international condemnations and was widely, yet falsely, believed to have provided the impetus for the war of terror that was waged against the state of Israel.

The Intifada began when a PA policeman shot and killed  IDF soldier Yossi Tabega who was sitting next to him on a joint jeep patrol.

Widely known as “The Second Intifada” or “The Oslo War,” the murderous onslaught peaked during 2001-2002 and was more or less over by 2007.

According to the Foreign Ministry website, during the reign of terror over 1,200 Israelis, most of them civilians, were murdered in buses, on roads, in cafes and restaurants, with tens of thousands more maimed, scarred and bereaved.

“Yasser Arafat had made a decision to launch the Intifada,” Suha told Dubai TV on December 16, in an interview translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

“Camp David had failed, and he said to me: ‘You should remain in Paris.’”

“I asked him why and he said: ‘Because I am going to start an Intifada. They want me to betray the Palestinian cause. They want me to give up on our principles, and I will not do so.’”

“’I do not want Zahwah’s friends in the future to say that Yasser Arafat abandoned the Palestinian cause and principles. I might be martyred, but I shall bequeath our historical heritage to Zahwa and to the children of Palestine,’” Suha said in the words of her late husband, referring to their daughter.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had offered to withdraw from 97 percent of Judea and Samaria, as well as 100 percent of Gaza. In addition, he agreed to dismantle 63 Jewish communities. In exchange for the 5 percent annexation of Jewish lands, Israel would increase the size of the Gaza territory by roughly a third.

Barak also made concessions on Jerusalem that many Israelis find unthinkable, agreeing that Arabs would maintain control over their holy places and have "religious sovereignty" over the Temple Mount.

Arafat flatly rejected the proposal, which has been more that any Israeli leader had offered in the past, deciding, instead, to unleash a war of terror against the State of Israel.