Fatah official:
The US and Israel "assassinated" Arafat
PA TV educates kids:
"They killed Yasser Arafat,
because until his final breath
he defended the children of his people
in war and in peace,
diplomatically and also with a rifle"
k
Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
The Palestinian Authority continues to demonize Israelis to its youth. On the PA TV children's program The Best Home, the host told children that Israel killed their former leader Yasser Arafat along with "many of our people... They killed Yasser Arafat, because until his final breath he defended the children of his people in war and in peace, diplomatically and also with a rifle, with a weapon." [Official PA TV, The Best Home, Nov. 11, 2016]
In response, a young boy repeated a famous Arafat chant glorifying fighting and dying in order to take Jerusalem from Israel:
Boy: "In spirit and blood we will redeem you Al-Aqsa!
In spirit and blood we will redeem you Al-Aqsa!
Millions of Martyrs are marching towards Jerusalem!
Millions of Martyrs are marching towards Jerusalem!"
Millions of Martyrs are marching towards Jerusalem!"
Responding to this call for Martyrdom the TV host affirmed to the children:
Host: "We will follow Yasser Arafat's path..."
PA and Fatah leaders promote this accusation every year as Palestinian Media Watch has documented. Some even extend the libel to include the US, saying that Israel and the US conspired to murder Arafat. An addition this year is that they had the help of a Palestinian traitor. Fatah Central Committee member stated that "a treacherous hand helped the US and Israel assassinate the symbol Arafat":
"Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki said... that the US and Israel are the main suspects in the assassination of Arafat, in addition to a 'treacherous' hand that is suspected in the crime...
He added: 'This matter is very complicated, particularly because the ones who stand behind it are Israel and the US who place great obstacles before the investigation in order to prevent reaching the truth and announcing it.'"
[Amad, independent Palestinian news agency, Nov. 10, 2016]
Similarly, Fatah Advisory Council member Ahmed Abd Al-Rahman cited a fictitious conversation between then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and then US President George Bush:
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"I say that they put poison into his ear a year earlier. A slow poison. And it began to work gradually and Yasser Arafat's health deteriorated... [Former Israeli Prime Minister] Sharon said to [former US President] Bush: 'My brother, let us get rid of him and kill him.' [He was talking] about Arafat. [Bush] told him: 'Leave it to God.' Sharon responded to him: 'But God needs helpers on earth.''"
[Official PA TV, State of Politics, Nov. 15, 2016]
Another Fatah official eager to promote the libel that Israel murdered Arafat is Fatah Central Committee member Dr. Nasser Al-Qidwa, who is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute for the Commemoration of Yasser Arafat. As in previous years, he "accused Israel of its responsibility for the assassination of the late Martyr Yasser Arafat." [Ma'an, independent Palestinian news agency, Nov. 13, 2016]
Some PA and Fatah leaders have added a new aspect to the libel this year and are accusing Israel of plotting to kill the current PA leader Mahmoud Abbas as well, as reported by PMW.
The following are longer excerpts of the statements accusing Israel of murdering Arafat:
Official PA TV host: "We want to know who killed our late leader [Yasser Arafat]. Certainly it is the occupation,but we need proof in order to present the facts to the world.... [In 2002], the Israeli occupation entered every area of the West Bank and tried to kill many. It killed many of our [Palestinian] people... They killed Yasser Arafat, because until his final breath he defended the children of his people in war and in peace, diplomatically and also with a rifle, with a weapon..."
Boy chants Arafat's slogans:
"In spirit and blood we will redeem you Al-Aqsa!
In spirit and blood we will redeem you Al-Aqsa!
Millions of Martyrs are marching towards Jerusalem!
Millions of Martyrs are marching towards Jerusalem!"
In spirit and blood we will redeem you Al-Aqsa!
Millions of Martyrs are marching towards Jerusalem!
Millions of Martyrs are marching towards Jerusalem!"
PA TV host: "We will follow Yasser Arafat's path and his promise, and also [follow] the path of our current president, leader Mahmoud Abbas, because he wants all of us to be the future of Palestine, and through all of us, he wants to struggle against the occupation's army and Israel, whose strength is military while our strength is our creativity and our minds. We will fight them before the entire world. Allah willing they will soon leave Palestine, defeated."
[Official PA TV, The Best Home, Nov. 11, 2016]
The host's reference to Israel entering the West Bank in 2002 refers to Israel's Operation Defensive Shield - a large Israeli military operation in April 2002 in response to the many suicide bombings during the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005). Israel put Arafat under siege and invaded six of the largest West Bank cities in an attempt to destroy the terror infrastructure.
Official PA TV program State of Politics, hosting Fatah Advisory Council member Ahmed Abd Al-Rahman
Fatah Advisory Council member, Ahmed Abd Al-Rahman:"Regarding the fate of Yasser Arafat, it was after they [the Israelis] were unable to control him politically, in other words to cause him to make concessions and to submit. They did not find a solution other than eliminating him in this way... I say that they put poison into his ear a year earlier. A slow poison. And it began to work gradually and Yasser Arafat's health deteriorated... [Former Israeli Prime Minister] Sharon said to [former US President] Bush: 'My brother, let us get rid of him and kill him.' [He was talking] about Arafat. [Bush] told him: 'Leave it to God.' Sharon responded to him: 'But God needs helpers on earth.' There was a journalist with Sharon who wrote a biography on Sharon, and this is what he noted (there are no records of such a conversation -Ed.)"
[Official PA TV, State of Politics, Nov. 15, 2016]
Headline: "Abbas Zaki: A treacherous hand helped the US and Israel assassinate the symbol Arafat"
"Fatah Central Committee member [and Fatah Commissioner for Arab and China Relations] Abbas Zaki revealed that there are a number of sources behind the assassination of the late [PA] President Yasser Arafat.
Zaki, in a statement to the Hamas movement website 'Al-Risalah Net', said on Thursday evening [Nov. 10, 2016] that the US and Israel are the main suspects in the assassination of Arafat (this conspiracy theory has been refuted by international investigators, -Ed.), in addition to a 'treacherous' hand that is suspected in the crime, and they are trying to investigate it, according to him.
He added: 'This matter is very complicated, particularly because the ones who stand behind it are Israel and the US who place great obstacles before the investigation in order to thwart reaching the truth and announcing it.'
Zaki emphasized that the investigation committee continues to search for the hand that committed the crime, and noted that they are postponing the announcement of the murderer so as 'not to harm the investigation and to reach the required results.'
He noted that the announcement of the results will take place immediately after the investigation committee completes its work, and expressed hope that they would reach results in this matter.
[PA] President Mahmoud Abbas declared today [Nov. 10, 2016] that he knows the murderer of the late [PA] President Yasser Arafat, and emphasized that the result will soon be exposed 'and the Palestinian people will be astonished when it discovers who the perpetrators are.'"
[Amad, independent Palestinian news agency, Nov. 10, 2016]
Headline: "This is what Al-Qidwa said about the assassination of Yasser Arafat and his final days in the hospital"
"Fatah Central Committee member and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute [for the Commemoration] of Yasser Arafat Dr. Nasser Al-Qidwa again accused Israel of its responsibility for the assassination of the late Martyr (Shahid) Yasser Arafat (these conspiracy theories have been refuted by international investigators, -Ed.), and said that he has already expressed this position more than once.
Al-Qidwa, as part of the program The Difficult Questions presented by colleague [Director of the Ma'an independent Palestinian news agency] Dr. Nasser Al-Lahham, stated that there is evidence and facts that prove the involvement of Israel in the assassination of Yasser Arafat, among them the Israeli siege of the Muqata'a (i.e., the PA's presidential headquarters, reference is to 2002 counter-terror Operation Defensive Shield, see note below), and the decision of the government of Israel to get rid of Yasser Arafat. This is in addition to the medical reports, including the French report, which said that pathology cannot explain this case, and conclusively pointed to poisoning (French experts ruled out poisoning -Ed.), alongside a long list of evidence that points to Israel...
Likewise, he again emphasized that the nuclear material that the French report spoke of, plutonium (sic., polonium-210), is a dangerous substance found only in the hands of nuclear states, and Israel is a nuclear state that possesses it."
[Ma'an, independent Palestinian news agency, Nov. 13, 2016]
