Yasser Arafat Quotes

We've always had a dual role in the region - friend of Israel, and honest broker. We've given up the honest broker role completely.

Clinton impressed Assad: a young man who appeared to want to be neutral in the Arab-Israeli dispute - an illusion of course, but that's what Assad thought.

My friends, there is no Palestinian-Israeli conflict. There is only the global war on terrorism.

It was in our power to cause the Arab governments to renounce the policy of strength toward Israel by turning it into a demonstration of weakness.

The Bush Administration's failure to be consistently involved in helping Israel achieve peace with the Palestinians has been both wrong for our friendship with Israel, as well as badly damaging to our standing in the Arab world.

It is time to change our policy of appeasement toward the Palestinians, to strengthen our ties with the nation of Israel.

Public interest in most of the Middle East was slight at that time; the Arab-Israeli conflict was all that people were interested in and that was not my specialty.

The UN doesn’t take any moral stands unless its against Israel.

Toward the Palestinians, Israel can only give. But when dealing with the entire Arab world, Israel can get a lot.

Israel is the only country in the world that is ready to make compromises - even though it did not lose any wars.

I've been involved in ties with elements in the Arab world for years now. They wish to establish relations with Israel, but they cannot do so while there is no peace process.

Israel's discourse with the United States on the subject of Iran's nuclear project is more significant, and more fraught, than it is with Europe. The U.S. has made efforts to stiffen sanctions against Iran and to mobilize countries like Russia and China to apply sanctions in exchange for substantial American concessions.

President Abbas and myself, we are the ones who signed the Oslo agreement, so we really know each other, not just theoretically.

It was an agreement between Saddam (Hussein) and the shah of Iran and not between Iraq and Iran.

We're talking about bilateral agreements with other countries in Asia, so that we can expand our influence and get countries to play by our set of rules. That's to me is something that's really important.

It's not by accident that this has not been resolved in 50 years, but I believe this is the best chance we will have for a long time for there to be a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

The bitter hatreds that now poison Middle Eastern politics are rooted in the real or perceived wrong of the setting up of a Jewish State in an Islamic region. In view of all that the Jews had been through, it must have seemed a fair and humane solution. Probably deep familiarity with the Old Testament had given the European and American decision-makers some sort of idea that this really was the historic homeland of the Jews.

If you're the King of Jordan, if you're a part of the royal family in Saudi Arabia and he's made this deal with Iran which gives them $150 billion to wage a war and try to extend their empire across the Middle East, why would you want to do it now? When I stand across from King Hussein of Jordan and I say to him, "You have a friend again sir, who will stand with you to fight this fight," he'll change his mind.

America has to stand by our allies. I think the tension that existed between Israel and the United States was very unfortunate.

Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment.

Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish.

I think America has to do more than be a broker now. Because both the Palestinians are weak and Israel is very weak.

It was at a certain stage (you might have forgotten, haven't you?) that the United States actively collaborated with Saddam when he was at war with Iran: weapons were supplied, diplomatic and political support was provided and so on. Then the US fell out with him for some reason and decided to do away with him.

We did not think that [Egyptian President] Nasser wanted war. The two divisions he sent to Sinai on May 14 would not have been sufficient to launch an offensive against Israel. He knew it and we knew it.

The world should commit Israel to withdraw from our territories and stop occupation and aggression, and allow the Palestinian people to establish their independent state.