Abu Ayad Quotes
It is inconceivable that we will recognize the right of our enemy [Israel] over any piece of territory on Palestinian soil.
Commenting on Israel's right to exist:
Abu Ayad, Deputy to Yasser Arafat, Palestine Liberation Organization, Statement, October, 1988, Quoted in The Washington Post, November 20, 1988
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The PLO and most of the Arab nations, took the position that the United Nations original partition of Palestine into a Jewish and a Palestinian nations -- UN General Assembly Resolution 181 – was “illegal”. That view has served as the basis for the Arab Israeli problems since. The basis of the illegality they claimed was the right of the Palestinians to self determination. However, it is a right which they deny to the Jews living in Palestine who also had a right to self determination. The UN solution was to partition the land into two nations so that the each had the right of self determination. However, the Arab leadership wanted only Arabs to have the right of self determination.
This resolution has never been rescinded. Some Arab states have abandoned this resolution and negotiated peace and recognition such as Egypt. The majority of the Arab States did and do not want peace with Israel. They did and do not want to recognize Israel and they did and do not want to negotiate. But they often blame Israel for being intransigent in the peace process. Many Arabs want a peace treaty and want to negotiate but the extreme rejectionists generally dominate Arab politics.
A minority of Jewish Israelis do not recognize the United Nations 1949 partition boundaries of the land creating modern Israel. They believe that God gave all the land to the Jewish people—as described in the Bible. Therefore, to them, the West Bank is a part of Israel. No Israeli government has ever maintained that position. However some governments which depend on settler and ultra-Orthodox support do not publicly disavow the position. Palestinians, look with alarm, on this view and the constant attempts at encroachment on West Bank land that the settlers attempt. Like the extremist Palestinians who want to sabotage any two-state solution, there is a minority of Israelis who do the same. These two groups made the peace process very difficult as their adherents are not only very passionate about their views, but have political influence out of proportion to their relatively small number of voters.
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Salah Mesbah Khalaf (Arabic: صلاح مصباح خلف), also known as Abu Iyad (أبو إياد), was deputy chief and head of intelligence for the Palestine Liberation Organization and the second most senior official of Fatah after Yasser Arafat.
