In an article featured yesterday in the official PA newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, entitled \"A Chance for the Fighting Negotiator,\" PLO Information department head Hassan Al-Kashef urges Arabs not to return to diplomatic negotiations with Israel but rather to continue using violence to fight against the Jewish state. Here are excerpts of the article, as translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI):
\"Today\'s most effective negotiator is the fighter active in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem. It is he who consciously and courageously targets soldiers and settlers...
\"Currently, [this] fighting negotiator is holding a serious, in-depth dialogue with all circles of decision [makers] in Israel, with all political and media circles, and with all the research centers. Furthermore, he is maintaining a dialogue with all strata and sectors of Israelis. The fighting negotiator, who opens fire [with] his national consciousness, with great accuracy and to great effect in the area to be liberated, demands our complete support...
\"This fighting negotiator sacrifices his blood for us and asks for nothing in return, except loyalty. Through him, we are all stronger. The leadership is stronger, the national establishment is stronger, the factions are stronger, and the people is stronger.\"
\"All the fighting negotiator asks for is that we give him time and opportunity. It won\'t take long. He will not exhaust us with declarations, negotiations, and years-long campaigns; unlike our traditional negotiator, whose time has come to be replaced, taken out of the game.
\"We will lose much, and the loss will be shameful and historic, if we agree [now] to restore calm with security measures requiring us to protect the occupation\'s soldiers, bases, and settlers.\"
\"Today\'s most effective negotiator is the fighter active in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem. It is he who consciously and courageously targets soldiers and settlers...
\"Currently, [this] fighting negotiator is holding a serious, in-depth dialogue with all circles of decision [makers] in Israel, with all political and media circles, and with all the research centers. Furthermore, he is maintaining a dialogue with all strata and sectors of Israelis. The fighting negotiator, who opens fire [with] his national consciousness, with great accuracy and to great effect in the area to be liberated, demands our complete support...
\"This fighting negotiator sacrifices his blood for us and asks for nothing in return, except loyalty. Through him, we are all stronger. The leadership is stronger, the national establishment is stronger, the factions are stronger, and the people is stronger.\"
\"All the fighting negotiator asks for is that we give him time and opportunity. It won\'t take long. He will not exhaust us with declarations, negotiations, and years-long campaigns; unlike our traditional negotiator, whose time has come to be replaced, taken out of the game.
\"We will lose much, and the loss will be shameful and historic, if we agree [now] to restore calm with security measures requiring us to protect the occupation\'s soldiers, bases, and settlers.\"