Fatah leader: Fatah's goal is to destroy Israel; Palestine is from the "river to the sea"

and it is Haifa, Jaffa, Acre, and it is all of Palestine"
 

Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
 

Following the unity agreement between the Palestinian Authority and the terror organization Hamas, many have expressed concern that Hamas ideology may now become part of the PA government's policy. However, even before the unity agreement, PA and Fatah officials have consistently expressed many of the same terror/hate messages, and have reiterated that their goal is to destroy Israel.

Several times recently, Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi has openly rejected coexistence with Israel and called for a "return to the option of one Palestine from the river to the sea." During an interview on Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV, he stated that "the only solution before us is the historic solution presented by Fatah in 1968." 
 

"I'm telling you that the two-state solution does not exist. The two-state solution does not exist. The two-state solution is over. We must return to the option of one Palestine from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea. Palestinians, Palestinian leadership, listen to me: The only solution before us is the historic solution presented by Fatah in 1968."

[Al-Manar TV (Hezbollah), April 2, 2014] 

Tirawi reiterated the same message last week when he said "the homeland... is... all of Palestine, from its [Jordan] River to its [Mediterranean] Sea":
 

"Our people, people of Gaza, Gaza of resolve, of nobleness and struggle: Your freedom is near. Our prisoners' freedom and your freedom are also near, Allah willing. You will return to the bosom of legitimacy, to the bosom of the homeland, which is represented by [the] Gaza [Strip] and the [West] Bank, by Palestine -- all of Palestine, from its [Jordan] River to its [Mediterranean] Sea. This is our goal; this is the lantern that lights our way; these are our principles in the Fatah Movement: Palestine -- [the] Gaza [Strip] is part of it; the [West] Bank is part of it; and it is Haifa, Jaffa, Acre, and it is all of Palestine, which will be an independent state for us, Allah willing."

[Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi's YouTube channel, April 20, 2014] 

Tirawi said that "the only solution before us is the historic solution presented by Fatah in 1968." This can only be understood as another call for Israel's destruction through armed conflict. The PLO Charter first written in 1964 called for "liberation" of Palestine, meaning the destruction of Israel, adding that the PLO does not seek "territorial sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip..." However, when the West Bank and Gaza Strip came under Israeli administration following the Six Day War in 1967, the PLO rewrote its Charter in 1968, now seeking sovereignty over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as well, lands formerly under Jordanian and Egyptian rule.
 

The Charter of 1968 also speaks of "armed struggle" or "armed revolution" nine times, stating that "armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine" and urging Palestinians to "be prepared for the armed struggle." The PLO and Fatah were then defined internationally as terror organizations.
 

The "armed struggle" to "liberate Palestine," with "Palestine" defined as all of Israel including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, is "the historic solution presented by Fatah in 1968" to which Tirawi referred.
 

The 1968 Charter's definition of Israel should also be noted. Israel is defined as "the instrument" of Zionism, which is "a political movement organically associated with international imperialism and antagonistic to all action for liberation and to progressive movements in the world. It is racist and fanatic in its nature, aggressive, expansionist, and colonial in its aims, and fascist in its methods." 
 

Click to see other statements by Tirawi, denying Israel's right to exist and advocating violent struggle.

See the full versions of the Charters from 1964 and 1968 here.
 

See Palestinian Media Watch's website for more examples of the PA expressing that its goal is Israel's destruction. 
 

The following is a longer excerpt of Tirawi's speech advocating one Palestine "from the river to the sea":
 

Fatah's Forum for Prisoners and Released Prisoners organized a torch-lighting ceremony in front of the homes of prisoners Diya and Muhammad Al-Agha in the Khan Yunis District
 

[Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi's YouTube channel,  

April 20, 2014]
 

Notes:  

Muhammad Al-Agha - sentenced to 13 years in prison; PMW has not been able to obtain precise information about his crime.
 

The following is a longer excerpt of Tirawi's statement dismissing the two-state solution:
 

Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi: "I repeat my humble opinion once again: I'm telling you that the two-state solution does not exist. The two-state solution does not exist. The two-state solution is over. We must return to the option of one Palestine from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea. Palestinians, Palestinian leadership, listen to me: The only solution before us is the historic solution presented by Fatah in 1968."

[Al-Manar TV (Hezbollah), April 2, 2014]