British journalist David Hirst - employed by Egypt's Al-Aharam newspaper - conducted an exclusive interview with PLO chieftain Yasser Arafat this month. For Hirst, Arafat is not a terrorist commander of a seven-month mini-war against Israel. He is even very human and quite cordial: "..He is in [a] relaxed and buoyant mood, confident, some of his entourage say, that he is at least holding his own in the great trial of strength and stamina now under way. He must also know that, though still heavily criticized for the manifold flaws of his administration, he has regained much popularity, both here and in the Arab world at large, simply for standing firm as the leader of a patriotic struggle."
Regarding the mini-war, Arafat "just doesn't want to elaborate on the nature of the Intifada. [I asked him whether it is] violent -- violence being banned under Oslo -- or non-violent? ' Armed struggle' or peaceable mass action? Spontaneous, or subject to his control and manipulation? Confined to the occupied territories or deliberately exported to Israel proper? Clearly, it contains all these elements. But you will be hard pressed to get him to explain his part in them. It is not his business, he repeatedly insists, but Israel's."
During the interview with Hirst, Arafat repeated the early Arab claim that "[Ariel] Sharon started it all." According to Hirst, Arafat was "so alarmed.... at the right-wing leader's plan, last September, to visit the Aqsa compound that he, and several aides, had visited Barak at his home the night before to warn him of the likely consequences. 'Unfortunately, he did not follow my advice. You know what happened the next day: they opened fire on those who were praying. That is what made the Intifada and the resistance of our people." Arutz-7 reported twice in the last couple of months on the now-famous speech of PA "information minister" Imad Falouji, in which he admitted that Sharon's visit to the Mount was not, in fact, the cause of the mini-war. MEMRI translated his speech into English in mid-March, during which Falouji asserted: "Whoever thinks that the Intifada broke out because of the despised Sharon's visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is wrong, even if this visit was the straw that broke the back of the Palestinian people. This Intifada was planned in advance, ever since President Arafat´s return from the Camp David negotiations, where he turned the table upside down on President Clinton. [Arafat] remained steadfast and challenged [Clinton]. He rejected the American terms and he did it in the heart of the US."
Asked by Hirst if he consciously decided to orchestrate the mini-war, Arafat said: "'It seems...that it is I who send helicopters, tanks, and armored cars to seal all Israeli cities. Is it I who use uranium, and gas bombs?' " Contradicting all known intelligence information, "Till now, [Arafat] insisted, 'I have not given any order to open fire. And they know that. Our policemen and soldiers have not been involved till now.'"
Regarding the mini-war, Arafat "just doesn't want to elaborate on the nature of the Intifada. [I asked him whether it is] violent -- violence being banned under Oslo -- or non-violent? ' Armed struggle' or peaceable mass action? Spontaneous, or subject to his control and manipulation? Confined to the occupied territories or deliberately exported to Israel proper? Clearly, it contains all these elements. But you will be hard pressed to get him to explain his part in them. It is not his business, he repeatedly insists, but Israel's."
During the interview with Hirst, Arafat repeated the early Arab claim that "[Ariel] Sharon started it all." According to Hirst, Arafat was "so alarmed.... at the right-wing leader's plan, last September, to visit the Aqsa compound that he, and several aides, had visited Barak at his home the night before to warn him of the likely consequences. 'Unfortunately, he did not follow my advice. You know what happened the next day: they opened fire on those who were praying. That is what made the Intifada and the resistance of our people." Arutz-7 reported twice in the last couple of months on the now-famous speech of PA "information minister" Imad Falouji, in which he admitted that Sharon's visit to the Mount was not, in fact, the cause of the mini-war. MEMRI translated his speech into English in mid-March, during which Falouji asserted: "Whoever thinks that the Intifada broke out because of the despised Sharon's visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is wrong, even if this visit was the straw that broke the back of the Palestinian people. This Intifada was planned in advance, ever since President Arafat´s return from the Camp David negotiations, where he turned the table upside down on President Clinton. [Arafat] remained steadfast and challenged [Clinton]. He rejected the American terms and he did it in the heart of the US."
Asked by Hirst if he consciously decided to orchestrate the mini-war, Arafat said: "'It seems...that it is I who send helicopters, tanks, and armored cars to seal all Israeli cities. Is it I who use uranium, and gas bombs?' " Contradicting all known intelligence information, "Till now, [Arafat] insisted, 'I have not given any order to open fire. And they know that. Our policemen and soldiers have not been involved till now.'"