“Armed struggle is permitted,” says PLO official

PLO Executive Committee member Azzam Al-Ahmad: “There is a mutual letter of recognition between the Israeli government and the PLO. I say that now we need to breach this document. We want mutual recognition between two states. If they won’t agree to recognition between states, we are not interested in their recognition… We will continue to fight through all the means that are available to us... Even armed struggle is permitted. According to the international resolutions and the UN Charter any state under occupation has the right to fight as a liberation movement until the end of the occupation, and we are still a liberation movement.”

The terms “all means,” “all means of resistance,” “all forms,” are ‎used by PA leaders to include using all types of violence, including deadly terror ‎against Israeli civilians such as stabbings and shootings, as well as throwing rocks and Molotov Cocktails.

UN Resolution 3236 - PA leaders and officials have legitimized Palestinian violence by quoting UN resolution 3236 which "recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to regain its rights by all means." The PA interprets "all means" as including violence against civilians, but has chosen to ignore the continuation of the resolution which states that the use of "all means" should be "in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations..." The UN Charter prohibits targeting civilians, even in war. Chapter 1, Article 1, opens by saying that "international disputes" should be resolved "by peaceful means."

PLO Executive Committee member Azzam Al-Ahmad who spoke on official PA TV also serves as head of the PLO Department of Arab and Parliamentary Affairs, Fatah Central Committee member, Fatah Commissioner of National Relations, and Fatah Commissioner for Relations with Lebanon.