PA Minister: “Armed resistance” (i.e., violence) not possible because Arabs lack military power
PA TV program Religion and Politics:
Host Moaz Shraideh: “There are some who propose launching a resistance in the Palestinian areas, in the ‘West Bank’ in quotation marks.”
Minister of Religious Affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “What resistance?”
PA TV host: “Armed resistance. There were some who demanded that you initiate the armed resistance to liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and enough with the speeches etc.”
PA Minister Al-Habbash: “Let’s assume, for argument’s sake, let’s assume this. Let’s say we remove all restrictions from the ‘armed resistance’ in quotation marks. From where will the resistance get weapons? From where will it get money in order to fight? From where? Do we have factories to manufacture this?”
PA TV host: “You’ll find a way.”
PA Minister Al-Habbash: “We don’t need to find a way. There is a [Muslim] nation with a billion and a half [people]. We, the entire Palestinian nation, what percentage are we of this nation? And just as I am responsible for Jerusalem, the Saudi Arabian, the Egyptian, the Jordanian, the Iraqi, the Indonesian, and the Moroccan are all responsible for Jerusalem. I resist as much as I can. This resistance can [only] reach the popular civilian resistance’s limit because I don’t have military power.”
Host Moaz Shraideh: “There are some who propose launching a resistance in the Palestinian areas, in the ‘West Bank’ in quotation marks.”
Minister of Religious Affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “What resistance?”
PA TV host: “Armed resistance. There were some who demanded that you initiate the armed resistance to liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and enough with the speeches etc.”
PA Minister Al-Habbash: “Let’s assume, for argument’s sake, let’s assume this. Let’s say we remove all restrictions from the ‘armed resistance’ in quotation marks. From where will the resistance get weapons? From where will it get money in order to fight? From where? Do we have factories to manufacture this?”
PA TV host: “You’ll find a way.”
PA Minister Al-Habbash: “We don’t need to find a way. There is a [Muslim] nation with a billion and a half [people]. We, the entire Palestinian nation, what percentage are we of this nation? And just as I am responsible for Jerusalem, the Saudi Arabian, the Egyptian, the Jordanian, the Iraqi, the Indonesian, and the Moroccan are all responsible for Jerusalem. I resist as much as I can. This resistance can [only] reach the popular civilian resistance’s limit because I don’t have military power.”