Fatah military leader: Fatah leads in blending negotiations and terror
Zakariya Zubeidi, Former head of Jenin’s Fatah terror group Al-Aqsa Martyrs, called for Fatah to adopt a platform that includes “resistance” during its conference which begins on Tuesday. However, he said resistance can and should coexist with the strategy of negotiation with Israel that has become identified with Fatah since the Oslo peace accords of the 1990s.
“This resistance is not defined yet. It could be armed resistance and it
could be peaceful resistance,” said Zubeidi, who signed an “amnesty” deal
with Israel in which he agreed to give up armed struggle.
“We see that the Israeli political is heading to the extreme right, and that indicates that there is no conciliation. This indicates that we are heading toward confrontation. And we will request that the members of the conference prepare for that confrontation,” he said, speaking in an interview with Ma’an in Bethlehem.
Asked if he saw a renewal of the Intifada (Palestinian uprising), he said,
“Before deciding on that renewal, we should define what kind of intifada we want. If it was decided by the leadership, the leadership has to go into the street. … Intifada is a popular phenomenon. The people who will pay the price are the people in the street, and the Palestinian leadership must take that into consideration.”
Asked his views on the program of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority
(PA) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Zubeidi smiled and said that he was happy
that the PA security forces are being trained internationally.
“I am happy that our army is trained in Jordan in Egypt, in Russia, in
several countries all over the world,” he said. “In case there is a future
war, we will have some people who will be trained.”
“This resistance is not defined yet. It could be armed resistance and it
could be peaceful resistance,” said Zubeidi, who signed an “amnesty” deal
with Israel in which he agreed to give up armed struggle.
“We see that the Israeli political is heading to the extreme right, and that indicates that there is no conciliation. This indicates that we are heading toward confrontation. And we will request that the members of the conference prepare for that confrontation,” he said, speaking in an interview with Ma’an in Bethlehem.
Asked if he saw a renewal of the Intifada (Palestinian uprising), he said,
“Before deciding on that renewal, we should define what kind of intifada we want. If it was decided by the leadership, the leadership has to go into the street. … Intifada is a popular phenomenon. The people who will pay the price are the people in the street, and the Palestinian leadership must take that into consideration.”
Asked his views on the program of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority
(PA) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Zubeidi smiled and said that he was happy
that the PA security forces are being trained internationally.
“I am happy that our army is trained in Jordan in Egypt, in Russia, in
several countries all over the world,” he said. “In case there is a future
war, we will have some people who will be trained.”