Block, SkipCaptcha, Upload, Automoderated users, edit, Moderators, protect
27,867
edits
Changes
no edit summary
There were limited disturbances during Sharon's visit, mostly involving stone throwing. During the remainder of the day, outbreaks of stone throwing continued on the Temple Mount and in the vicinity, leaving 28 Israeli policemen injured, three of whom were hospitalized. There are no accounts of Palestinian injuries on that day. Significant and orchestrated violence was initiated by Palestinians the following day following Friday prayers.</blockquote>
There were limited disturbances during Sharon's visit, mostly involving stone throwing. During the remainder of the day, outbreaks of stone throwing continued on the Temple Mount and in the vicinity, leaving 28 Israeli policemen injured, three of whom were hospitalized. There are no accounts of Palestinian injuries on that day. Significant and orchestrated violence was initiated by Palestinians the following day following Friday prayers.</blockquote>
Planned after July 2000 ''Camp David''
Imad Falluji, Arafat's Palestinian Minister of Communications: "Al-Aqsa Intifada has been planned since Camp David."<ref name=walla-2mar2001>[https://news.walla.co.il/item/45311 Palestinian minister: "Al-Aqsa Intifada has been planned since Camp David"], Walla! news, Mar 2, 2001.
<blockquote>
According to Imad Falluji, the Palestinian Minister of Communications. The eruption was not spontaneous following Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount but was carefully planned; In a speech at a refugee camp in Lebanon: "We will escalate the struggle."</blockquote></ref><ref name=dg-book-2008>Dore Gold, "The Battle for Jerusalem: Israel's Political Challenge", Yefiot Achronot, 2008, [https://books.google.com/books?&id=J9I-AQAAIAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%93 p. 218].<blockquote>According to Imad Falluji, the Palestinian Authority's communications minister, the outbreak of Palestinian violence was planned in advance by Arafat, many months earlier; Nevertheless, Arafat called this outbreak the al-Aqsa Intifada, in order to create the impression that it is a response to it.</blockquote></ref><<ref name=at-6apr2014/>
In 2002, Ehud Barak confirmed this in an interview with Prof. Benny Morris: "We have solid intelligence that Arafat planned to release the war dogs, a violent clash, and Sharon's visit is an excellent excuse for that."<ref name=milstein-24may2013/>
As well as declared so June 29, 2010 by Mahmoud Al-Zahar, and by Arafat's wife Suha, on Nov 12, 2011.
<ref name=at-6apr2014>Michael Curtis, [https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2014/04/truth_and_misinformation_yasser_arafat_and_the_cia.html Truth and Misinformation: Yasser Arafat and the CIA] ''American Thinker'', April 6, 2014.<blockquote>
Documents and public statements by Palestinians make clear that Yasser Arafat had planned and was determined to mount the violence against Israel after the breakdown of peace talks at the second Camp David summit on July 25, 2000. Instructions to this effect were given to the Palestinian security forces. Arafat had already signaled his intentions in a speech to the Fatah movement in Nablus a month earlier. He said, referring to Arab battles, “We will sacrifice our lives for Palestine. (We) should remember the battle of Karameh, the Beirut Campaign, and the seven years of the (first) Intifada. We are willing to erase everything and start everything afresh.”
A number of statements by individuals close to Arafat describe his decision to launch action by the political and security bodies of the Palestinian Authority. Meetings were held to discuss tactics by the forces controlled by the Authority. A clear statement was made in March 2001 by Imad Falluji , the Minister of Communications of the PA, that Sharon was not responsible but that “It was planned since Arafat’s return from Camp David, and his rejection of President Bill Clinton’s peace proposals.”
Perhaps most telling are the statements, two slightly different versions, by Suha Arafat, widow of Yasser, on TV interviews on November 12, 2011 and again on December 12, 2011 that Arafat had decided to initiate the Intifada. In one version the leader told her to leave “Palestine, because I want to start an intifada.” In the second version she said, “We met in Paris and he asked me to remain there” because “I am going to start an intifada.” Arafat explained he was doing this because “he was asked to betray the Palestinian people, but he was not about to do so.”
Besides the confessions of the unrestrained widow is the bland if surprising statement on June 29, 2010 by Mahmoud Al-Zahar, one of the leaders of Hamas. He stated that Arafat had ordered not only his Fatah forces but also the Hamas movement to carry out military actions against Israel after he believed that negotiations had failed. Al-Zahar differed from Arafat on the rationale for and actions during the Intifada. Arafat had said he wanted to use terror attacks for tactical purposes, to pressure Israel presumably to improve his position in negotiations. The Hamas leader, however, wanted not merely tactical pressure but the attacks to be strategic ones against the State of Israel, euphemism for the elimination of Israel.
In spite of all these assertions about the direct responsibility of Yasser in initiating the Second Intifada, some still persist in the belief that he was simply responding to Israeli provocation.</blockquote></ref>
Nevertheless, Arafat called this outbreak the al-Aqsa Intifada, in order to create the impression that [if] it is a "response" to it.<ref name=dg-book-2008/>
During the conflict, the Palestinian Arabs have resorted to terrorist tactics of killing many innocent Israelis. The international community, through the [[United Nations]], has typically rebuked Israel for its attempts to deal with the ongoing threat to its people posed by [[suicide bombing|suicide bombers]] who target civilians.
During the conflict, the Palestinian Arabs have resorted to terrorist tactics of killing many innocent Israelis. The international community, through the [[United Nations]], has typically rebuked Israel for its attempts to deal with the ongoing threat to its people posed by [[suicide bombing|suicide bombers]] who target civilians.