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Khalid Meshal Speaks on Life, Liberty, and Yasser Arafat Dec 31, 2001
* Interview with Khalid Meshal, the Chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas, conducted in Damascus on December 31, 2001. Khaled Meshal is one of the most prominent and capable leaders of Hamas, the Palestinian resistance movement currently viewed with mixed emotions throughout the Western world. Born in Ramallah in 1956, Meshal moved to Kuwait in 1967 where he took up a job as a physics instructor. In 1987 he co-founded the para-military movement of Hamas, aimed at ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and eight years later, became chairman of its political bureau. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, Meshal fled to Amman under the invitation of King Hussein. The Jordanian King welcomed him heartily, knowing that this would endear him to his Palestinian subjects and counter-balance the influence that Yasser Arafat commands in Jordan. On September 25, 1997, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu dispatched a Mossad hit-team to have him killed. It was widely believed in Israel that Meshal was responsible for the numerous attacks that were sending shock waves throughout Israeli society. Two Mossad agents sprayed a poisonous nerve toxin into his ear, which should have killed him in 48-hours. Years later, he remembered the event saying, "I was hit next to my left ear. At that moment I realized there was an assassination attempt without resorting to gunshots. I had shivers, and something that felt like an electric shock running through my body." An infuriated Hussein intervened on his behalf, threatening to severe ties with Israel if an antidote is not immediately found. US President Bill Clinton personally intervened in the affair, forcing Israel to comply and "do what it takes to mollify the King." Netanyahu complied, giving Jordan the antidote and journeying to Amman in secret to offer an explanation to Hussein. Reportedly, the King refused to receive him, and ordered his brother Crown Prince Hasan to do so instead. To compensate for their blunder, the Israelis were forced to release the spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, from jail. Ironically, none other than Ariel Sharon brokered the "appeasement" deal with Jordan. As a result, Yassin was released from jail, having been in captivity since 1989, and Meshal was brought to the Arab and international spotlight. Overnight, he became a household name in Palestine. To the Israelis, Hamas is a terrorist organization that must be exterminated, responsible for 19 out of 36 suicide bombings that left 91 Israelis dead since the Intifadah broke out in September 2000. Meshal describes his party saying that the secret of its success is the willingness of young people to die, whereas, "the Israelis run away from death." He added, "I can die. But if I die it is an honor. It is martyrdom." To Yasser Arafat, Hamas is a burden that undermines his popularity at home and embarrasses him in Western circles. The leadership of Hamas, today more than ever, is dividing Palestinians into two camps: those with continuing the resistance and those who are not. In December 2001, Arafat showed willingness to clamp down on anti-Israeli activity and arrest Hamas leaders. He called for an end to armed violence and ordered his troops to conduct a house-to-house search for Hamas leaders. Knowing the grave consequences of such a manhunt, police officers resigned from office in protest en mass, while those who obeyed orders did so with ski masks over the heads to avoid being recognized by an outraged public. As inter-Palestinian fighting spread, Hamas issued an official declaration claiming that it would "halt" suicide attacks until further notice--a move that boosted Arafat's international reputation and depicted him as a man bound to his word. The declaration, Hamas confirmed, was aimed at maintaining national unity more so than saving Yasser Arafat. Speaking to the Washington Report at his Damascus-office, Khaled Meshal said; " We have agreed to cease our attacks so long as the Palestinian scene is in shambles. We will not end resistance, however, but only "freeze" martyr attacks in the territory of 1948 Palestine. This initiative, however, would depend on the attitude of the enemy. If Sharon increases his offensive, Hamas reserves the right to re-launch its attacks and retaliate at any time and in any manner that it sees fit. We don't have to receive approval from anyone." For the first time in years, however, the Hamas official seemed to secretly sympathize with Yasser Arafat, the man who had his party's best men behind bars. Meshal said, "We realize the pressure exerted by the US on both the Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority (PA). American policy is completely bias towards Sharon and that is a fact. When something threatens Israeli security, the US is quick to maneuver. However, if Israeli security is maintained for a substantial period of time, and disturbances start erupting in Palestine, the US administration will not bulge. Palestinian security, even if gravely in danger, is beyond the concern of the Americans." He added, "the demands of self-restraint are no longer made on the executioner, but rather, on his victim." For example, Meshal cites the return of US envoy Anthony Zenni to the Palestinian territories as having been conditioned "on whether Sharon wanted him back and not whether he was actually needed there or not." For his part, Chairman Yasser Arafat, who for long has suffered from Hamas popularity, often strove to curtail their activities with wide-scale arrests, mainly in July-September 1997 and in December 2001. During his Che Gevara freedom fighting days, from 1967 to 1993, Arafat was a symbol to nearly all-Palestinian factions, including the current leaders of Hamas. On all accounts, when Hamas was formed in 1987, its leaders were in-line with his policies. Meshal acknowledged that Yasser Arafat "cannot be discredited nor can his role in the Palestinian struggle be forgotten or ignored." In reference to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's December 2001 decision to cease all contact with the PLO leader and declare him irrelevant, Khaled Meshal was clearly not pleased, believing that these statements were an insult to someone who for long has been a symbol for Palestine. He did not seem to mind, however, the idea of a post-Arafat Palestine. "The Palestinian people are rich in their experiences and qualifications--they are also very strict in whom they chose as a leader" he said. "They are capable of producing a leader for every stage of their struggle, and Yasser Arafat was a leader for a certain period of Palestinian history." He added, however, that Arafat's latest declaration, made on the eve of our Eid holiday, was ultimately wrong. "Surrendering will not solve this crisis and what Arafat did was announce his surrender. After all, we tried surrendering in the past and that led us to nothing. We tried giving into US conditions and demands, and that also, led us to nothing. He was asking us to give-up our right of self-defense and declaring that the Intifadah is dead." By doing so, the PLO Chairman was in fact, he pointed out, "leaving all the initiatives, for both war and peace, in the hands of Sharon." Meshal says that what Israel wants today is for a Palestinian civil war to break out. They want to corner Arafat into facing either an all out war with Israel, or an internal war with his own people. "As for an all-out war with Israel, it is already there," he says, "but the Palestinians will not fight amongst themselves so long as their cause with Israel is still hanging." He adds that the Bush administration must understand that the Palestinian people have no hopes in receiving salvation from the USA. They also have no hope in being saved by the Europeans. "Rather, they have hope in God and the Intifadah." Even the Arabs are no longer seen as a source of salvation for the Palestinians. "Arabs whose responsiveness the Palestinian struggle was particularly weak after September 11. Following the attacks on America, the Arabs became preoccupied amongst themselves and went into frenzy due to threats and pressure from the USA. This backfired on the degree of their seriousness towards of the Palestinian cause." Of all the Arab states, Meshal seemed most pleased with the support he and his organization are receiving from Syria. Damascus will not change its policies towards Hamas, he points out, "because it believes in our resistance and likewise, we will not change our policy towards Syria even if its leadership resumes peace talks with Israel. It is the natural right of Syria to regain its occupied territory in any way that they see fit, just like it is ours." Meshal adds that all US and Israeli threats to attack Syria were aimed at pressuring Damascus to relinquish its alliance with Hamas. It was nothing but a bluff, he adds. "If we look back," Meshal points out, "we will see that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizbullah were not included on the first two US terrorist lists. They only appeared on the third list under Sharon's backing with the aim of pressuring Syria." Khalid Meshal makes a point to dislocate his group from the world's number one "wanted" man by saying, "In Hamas, we are in no way connected to Osama Bin Laden." He adds, "we suffered a lot under occupation and therefore, we are opposed to the targeting of civilians in America." What took place on September 11, however, does not justify giving America a free hand to do as it pleases in the world community. "Trying to mend a mistake with another big mistake is in no manner a logical solution" Meshal points out. He adds, "This is an unjust world I admit, where everyone is forced to weep for the pain and suffering of America--the Big Lady. Nobody cares for the small ladies, however, and for how many of them die or suffer. The US is strong and military superior and we acknowledge that, but it is not secure. It will remain so as long as its policies are bias towards the suppressors and not towards the suppressed." He points out that if it were not for Israel, Hamas would have no conflict with the USA. Hamas carries out a national resistance within Palestinian territories he reminded, "and fights nobody but the Zionist occupation." He adds, "We do not carry out activities outside of the occupied territories and have never targeted anyone but Israel. Never in our career did we carry out any activity against the United States." Wrapping up, the Palestinian leader said, "resistance is legitimate according to international standards. It is everyone's right to fight when occupied by a foreign force. The French fought the Nazis who occupied their land and received US backing for their resistance. The Americans themselves fought a revolution to gain their independence from the British monarchy--why cannot we have the same honor that they enjoyed?" Damascus
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