PA official Nabil Shaath: Arafat knew that a second Intifada would put pressure on Israel
Part of the fourth episode of the 2011 Palestinian-produced documentary “Arafat” was broadcast on PA TV again in January 2013 as an introduction to a PA ceremony. The film states that at Camp David, Arafat was subjected to fourteen days of heavy American-Israeli pressure to abandon Palestinian claims for the Right of Return and for Jerusalem.
Part of the film shows Arafat speaking about Camp David:
“Everyone will understand that no one in the Palestinian people or in the entire Arab nation can bow down or surrender. Millions of Martyrs (Shahids) march to Jerusalem! Millions of Martyrs march to Jerusalem! Millions of Martyrs march to Jerusalem!”
Narrator: “The Camp David summit failed, and [Bill] Clinton held Arafat responsible for the failure. This was the preface to very serious events. [Then Israeli Prime Minister] Ariel Sharon violated the Noble Sanctuary (i.e., The Temple Mount), and the second Intifada (i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005) – known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada – began on Sept. 28, 2000 as a direct reaction to this [Sharon’s] violation. This was, however, also a reaction to years of determined Israeli efforts to subject the Palestinians and their national authority.
Nabil Shaath: “He (Arafat) saw that a repeat of the first Intifada, in new forms, would provide the necessary popular, international, and Arab pressure on Israel, since it was already impossible to continue denying our right to Jerusalem and the right of the refugees, the two principal issues.”
[The film relates the destruction of buildings in the PA’s Muqata'a headquarters, other than Arafat’s office building, that took place during the siege, and it then broadcasts his well-known statement]: ‘They want me prisoner, they want me exiled, they want me dead, but I say: Martyr, Martyr, Martyr!’”
Part of the film shows Arafat speaking about Camp David:
“Everyone will understand that no one in the Palestinian people or in the entire Arab nation can bow down or surrender. Millions of Martyrs (Shahids) march to Jerusalem! Millions of Martyrs march to Jerusalem! Millions of Martyrs march to Jerusalem!”
Narrator: “The Camp David summit failed, and [Bill] Clinton held Arafat responsible for the failure. This was the preface to very serious events. [Then Israeli Prime Minister] Ariel Sharon violated the Noble Sanctuary (i.e., The Temple Mount), and the second Intifada (i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005) – known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada – began on Sept. 28, 2000 as a direct reaction to this [Sharon’s] violation. This was, however, also a reaction to years of determined Israeli efforts to subject the Palestinians and their national authority.
Nabil Shaath: “He (Arafat) saw that a repeat of the first Intifada, in new forms, would provide the necessary popular, international, and Arab pressure on Israel, since it was already impossible to continue denying our right to Jerusalem and the right of the refugees, the two principal issues.”
[The film relates the destruction of buildings in the PA’s Muqata'a headquarters, other than Arafat’s office building, that took place during the siege, and it then broadcasts his well-known statement]: ‘They want me prisoner, they want me exiled, they want me dead, but I say: Martyr, Martyr, Martyr!’”