Fatah official: Arafat taught Palestinians to wage “armed struggle” for Jerusalem

"Abbas Zaki, member of the Fatah Central Committee, recalls the Shahid (Martyr) Yasser Arafat on the anniversary of his death, as he was during the years of the siege. He says, 'Yasser Arafat had the idea that 'the shortest route to Jerusalem is the armed struggle'… Along with other slogans, such as: 'A million Shahids are marching to Jerusalem'. He knew that he was planting in the Palestinians of that generation [the idea] that Jerusalem needs millions of Shahids, for it is the mother of battles and of Ribat (religious conflict/war defending Islamic land) until the Day of Judgment."