Yasser Arafat Quotes

Not to forget, you are speaking with General Yasser Arafat. It's true that I am an engineer. But also I am a general. And I am religious. I believe that no one can approach me except God.

It is another face in the new atmosphere of many leaders inside Israel. No doubt it is something new. Actually, Ezer Weizman is a Palestinian. He was born in Haifa.

Palestine is only a stones throw away for a small Palestinian boy or girl.

We are not the Red Indians.

Even if only one guerilla cub survives the prolonged struggle, I am confident that he will raise the flag of Palestine overJerusalem... Jerusalem is destined to be the eternal capital of our sovereign, independent Palestinian state under the P.L.O. leadership.

Martyrs, martyrs, martyrs,... we want a million martyrs to march on Jerusalem.

Choose your friends carefully. Your enemies will choose you.

With hearts that believe in Allah's will and predetermination, we have received the news about the martyrdom of the martyr. . . . Al-Hotary, the son of Palestine, whose noble soul ascended to . . . in order to rest in Allah's Kingdom, together with the Prophets, the men of virtue, and the martyrs. The heroic martyrdom operation . . . who turned his body into bombs . . . the model of manhood and sacrifice for the sake of Allah and the homeland.

You are the generation that will reach the sea and hoist the flag of Palestine over Tel Aviv.

Let us return back to the peace process for our children and for their children. The peace of the brave which I have signed is my debt, part in our love for [Isaac] Rabin.

Let us be worthy of those who pin their hopes on us. May God bless you with success.

This is my homeland no one can kick me out.

The most fatal mistake of this Israeli military junta is that they have the complex of the arrogance of power. This is their suicidal mistake.

What do you think this very difficult situation will push? Especially in the hearts of those who are facing the starvation, facing the unemployment, facing this siege, facing the tragedy of their families - the poverty of their families. Some of them, they didn't find food to eat. What do you expect from them? In spite of death, our people are still patient. But patience has limits.

I am not Mr. Chairman. I am His Excellency, the President of Palestine.

The Israelis are mistaken if they think we do not have an alternative to negotiations. By Allah I swear they are wrong. The Palestinian people are prepared to sacrifice the last boy and the last girl so that the Palestinian flag will be flown over the walls, the churches and the mosques of Jerusalem.

I come bearing an olive branch in one hand, and the freedom fighter's gun in the other. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.

In order to obtain the goal of returning to Palestine, all of us sometimes have to grit our teeth. But it is forbidden that this harm the continued struggle against the Zionist enemy. Cooperation and understanding between the P.L.O. and the rejectionist organizations is what will lead to the speedy retreat of Israel from the occupied territories in the first stage, until the establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem. Only a state like that can then continue the struggle to remove the enemy from all Palestinian lands.

Now you are trying to recover it through Irangate. I know that. But it will cost you a lot. And if you are speaking about the charters again, you have to remember that the Israelis should recognize first the resolutions of the United Nations, according to [one of] which they became a state. Israel is the only state which was created by one of the United Nations resolutions.

It's always convenient for certain people to heap accusations on Israel.

I am challenging Ezer Weizman to accept the democratic state where both of us can live in this democratic state. What confederation? No. One democratic state. He declared one offer, I am declaring the other offer. With two communities.

Still, the American administration is following blindly the Israeli advisers in your policy, while they are pushing you to more and more disasters.

We do not want to destroy any people. It is precisely because we have been advocating coexistence that we have shed so much blood.

We are a democratic - we are living in democracy.

In order to obtain the goal of returning to Palestine, all of us sometimes have to grit our teeth.

Many of the Israelis begin to understand and discover the realities and the facts. They can't demolish five million Palestinians. They can't annihilate them.

When American administration will find that their interest is to follow up with the international conference and to find peace in this area, they will search not only for me, but for any Palestinian to speak with him. And they will say, "We have five million Arabs in the United States. We can't avoid them."

It will be another disaster, after Irangate. Not only that, not only this longest Arab - Israeli confrontation: but also the most important and successful war of attrition which still continues in the south of Lebanon.

Where is [Ariel] Sharon who, planning to be one of the big heroes of Israel, became one of the killers, criminals, killing our small kids in Sabra and Chatila. Where is Alexander Haig?

It is true that we are under occupation, but we are not the weaker party. We are the military force which Israel failed to defeat.

The obstacle is the USA administration. I know there is a strong Israeli lobby in America, no doubt of it.

The Amman Agreement failed because there was American pressure, and Israeli pressure, on Jordan to deal alone.

I send my condolences, and the condolences of the Palestinian people to American President Bush and his government and to the American people for this terrible act....We completely condemn this serious operation.... We were completely shocked.... It's unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable.

Peace for us means the destruction of Israel. We are preparing for an all-out war, a war which will last for generations...

Our law is a Jordanian law that we inherited, which applies to both the West Bank and Gaza, and sets the death penalty for those who sell land to Israelis.

Anyone who relinquishes a single inch of Jerusalem is neither an Arab nor a Muslim.

Peace for us means the destruction of Israel.

The Palestinian Rifle is ready and we will aim it if they try to prevent us from praying in Jerusalem.

Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel.

I am looking to have a place under the sun for our new generations to live in peace far away from repression, from terrorism, to live as human beings freely in this free world. That is what I am looking for. I am not asking for the moon. I am asking for the United Nations legality to be implemented.

Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.

The Palestinian state is within our grasp. Soon the Palestinian flag will fly on the walls, the minarets and the cathedrals of Jerusalem.

I am not receiving orders from Ariel Sharon.

The goal of our struggle is the end of Israel, and there can be no compromises...

[Adolf] Hitler succeeded once upon a time to conquer all the big powers within two or three years and occupied all Europe, North Africa, and arrived at the gates of Moscow. This is not the real power. Real power is something completely different.

If there is any Arab problem we can solve it inside the Arab League. But we are going to deal with the other side, with the Israelis.... It is not me who will decide who will invite, to speak frankly. It is not me, it is not the Arab side, it is not the Israelis who will decide who will invite.

The victory march will continue until the Palestinian flag flies in Jerusalem and in all of Palestine.

Did you follow what [General Yehoshafat] Harkabi wrote? Formerly of the Israeli military intelligence service. Remember him? Did you follow what he wrote? He said that it was for the sake of the existence of Israel that we have to accept the rights of the Palestinians to have their independent state.