Arafat: No Palestinian Elections

AP | 5/17/02

[kattracks]

RAMALLAH, West Bank, May 17, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Friday that there would be no general elections until after the end of Israel's military occupation.

A senior Arafat aide, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, had said Thursday that the Palestinian leader agreed to hold presidential and parliamentary elections within six months. There was no immediate explanation for the differing statements.

Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved

[remaininlight]

He sure changed his mind quick.

[Nuke'm Glowing]

For the ignorant media types here's a clue:

He's referring to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, i.e., the Israeli's own country. Where are all the demorats and peace queers demanding democracy in this facist's area like they have in Chile, Nicaragua, the Phillippines, etc....

[Movemout]

Yasser, meet your replacement, Ahmed Abdel Rahman. Your disservice to the Palestinian people has been noted.

[remaininlight]

Here's Rahman back in 1997:

Palestinian anger flares over Israeli policy By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuter) - A senior official close to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said Sunday the time for passive resistance to Israel's settlement policy was over. ``The danger surrounding us is forcing us to decide whether to be free and masters over our land or slaves of the Israelis,'' Ahmed Abdel Rahman, general-secretary of Arafat's cabinet, said in a fiery speech in self-ruled Gaza. ``From now on, resisting settlements will not be through words, condemnation or complaints to the U.N. Security Council,'' he told a rally organized by the Islamic National Committee to Resist Settlements and the Palestinian Information Ministry. Arafat condemned Saturday a U.S. veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution calling on Israel to abandon plans to build a new Jewish neighborhood in mainly Arab East Jerusalem. Introduced at the rally as speaking on Arafat's behalf, Abdel Rahman said: ``The world is with you but the world will not carry a rock for you.'' Stone-throwing was the hallmark of the 1987-1993 Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza. ``Jerusalem is a burning object that will ignite this hopeless peace. We have been patient for so long but today the knife is at our necks,'' Abdel Rahman told the gathering attended by several hundred Palestinians.

[Movemout]

The thing you have to understand about Semites is to watch their actions and ignore their words. Yes, Arabs are Semites. Fiery rhetoric is the hallmark of nearly all inhabitants of the ME, to include our friends, the Israelis. The fact that Ahmed Abdel Rahman is engaging in a post Arafat exercise in government construction is very telling. Ahmed wouldn't last two seconds if he praised Israel or America.

[isthisnickcool]

Arafat says this, his aides say that, but I never see them say or write anything in their native "Palestinian" language.

[Neophyte]

There was no immediate explanation for the differing statements.

There are NO differing statements at all. The statement ought to be interpreted as follows:

There'll be elections when Israel returned to the 1949 armistace lines, i.e. - never.

As to Rahman, he's no rival to AiryFart, he's one of his ass licking sycophant henchmen.

[mmmmmmmm....... donuts]

this was where it was headed in the first place... they were saying even yesterday, that to hold elections israel would have to withdraw. it's a very clever move, they get to portray israel as preventing elections.

[mmmmmmmm....... donuts]

abdel rahman is one of the more violent ones. always has been, actually.

[remaininlight]

Wrong bud. Fiery, dramatic rhetoric is the province of the Arab Muslims. To stir up their masses. To juice them up. Their rhetoric about Israel can be very caustic. Their mullahs make very vile rants about Jews from time to time. And have done so over TV and radio run by the PA. Israel's so called partner for peace.

If you can find something comparable from the Israel side then go for it. Even if you find something it won't compare to the volume of Jew hating rhetoric in the Palestinian press and the media of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt and so on.

[liberalism=failure]

Sounds like its about time for the US to step up and say if Arafat won't permit elections than he will have to go.

It's cajones check time at the white house.

[Movemout]

I'm a big fan of the Israelis, but you could say the same thing about Menachem Begin (ask the Brits) or even Bibi for that matter. This brouhaha has been going on since Abraham. It will only be resolved by the second coming.

[kattracks]

I disagree. It's time for the Palestinians to step up and say if Arafat won't permit elections than he will have to go.

[mmmmmmmm....... donuts]

i'm not sure which statement you are referring to; i guess it was the one i made about abdul rahman. all i'm saying, is that even by palestinian standards, rahman is a militant. you're right, so was begin.

well, for us jews, we would see it as the first coming... but that debate is for a different time.

[Movemout]

Wrong Bud. You need to go get a history book and check out the Zionist rhetoric prior to 1948. It matches the arab invective in tone and content.

[Movemout]

"well, for us jews, we would see it as the first coming... but that debate is for a different time. "

Good point. As long as there is a coming, I'm happy, first or second is moot.

[mmmmmmmm....... donuts]

why on earth would palestinians give up on arafat? sure, on meat-and-potatoes issues (hummus and pita, let's say), arafat scores a big 0 out of 10. but if you don't care about the sanctity of life (which arafat doesn't), the economy (which arafat doesn't), or other 'material' comforts; if you are interested in a palestinian state taking over the israeli one, then on those standards, arafat has done a great job.

[remaininlight]

Wrong Bud. You need to go get a history book and check out the Zionist rhetoric prior to 1948. It matches the arab invective in tone and content.

That's in the past. I live in today. Even so, I doubt what you say is true. You can lump Arabs and Jews as Semites who will lie equally and fulminate equally. But most folks ain't buying it.

You can furnish examples of this past Zionist rhetoric. Why not give it a try? In about 2 minutes I can dig up Jew hating material from the Arab world. One example and far from the best:

http://www.likud.nl/press122.html

What about the following statement by one Ali Aqleh Ursan: "The covetous, racist, and hated Jew Shylock, who cut the flesh from Antonio's chest with the knife of hatred, invades you with his money, his modern airplanes, his missiles, and his nuclear bombs."
Is Ursan some fringe extremist? No, he's the chairman of the Arab Writers' Association.

Then there's the P.A. newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda: the Muslim-Jewish conflict "resembles the conflict between man and Satan. This is the fate of the Muslim nation, and beyond that the fate of all the nations of the world, to be tormented by this nation (the Jews)".
Replace the word Muslim with German and you don't have an approximation of Hitler. You have Hitler.

Or take the official "moderates". Consider the view of the former imam of New York's Islamic Cultural Center, a man described until a short time ago as a western-leaning mullah sent to New York to spread inter-faith understanding.
After September 11, he disappeared and then popped up in the Middle East with the following statement: "You see these people (the Jews) all the time everywhere, disseminating corruption, heresy, homosexuality, alcoholism and drugs. They do this to impose their hegemony and colonialism on the world. Now, they are riding on the back of the world powers."

[Movemout]

I do not care to get into a bidding contest with you. Israel has my support over the Arabs. If you chose to ignore their warts, that is okay with me because I overlook their blemishes as well. Jews can be irritating, overbearing, and self-righteous. Kind of reminds me of Americans.