Word: palestinians
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Although Arafat has "renounced" terrorism, he holds fast to his support for violence. When Bethlehem mayor Elias Freij proposed a truce in the intifadah to provide an opportunity for negotiation, Arafat countered with this threat: "Any Palestinian who proposes an end to the intifadah exposes himself to the bullets of his own people and endangers his life. The PLO will know how to deal with him." So much for words of peace...
ARAFAT is currently courting the backing of Western powers for his message, but support for him within the Palestinian camp remains unclear. Key Palestinian factions have indicated their disapproval for Arafat's initiative. A joint statement by the heads of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, George Habash, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Naif Hawatmeh, "Arafat's Geneva statements do not commit the PLO to anything and they do not represent official policy." Arafat's statements also "contradicted the resolutions adopted by the PNC [the Palestine National Council...
...Israeli Defence Force has been turned into a police force. Many army generals support the concept of Palestinian self-rule, because they are intimately aware of what policing the territories is doing to their troops. When the prime minister visited forces on duty in the West Bank earlier this month, a paratrooper told him, "I have to act brutally toward people free of crime, too. I feel humiliated by this behavior...
...Palestinian schools in the territories were closed indefinitely last week. Residents who depend on jobs in Israel and shopkeepers strike for the intifadah. Palestinian anger and frustration justifiably grows...
...Palestinian state would not solve many key problems, such as discrimination against Palestinians in Israel proper. And it may place Israel's security in a more precarious position depending on how the following issues are resolved: Would the Palestinian state have an army? Which side would get Jerusalem? Would a corridor of a Palestinian state be created to link the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, as Arafat demands...