DEBKAfile: Israel taken aback by Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad’s insistence that “resistance” is “legitimate” Palestinia

by angryindian | July 30, 2007 at 12:01 pm

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Mid-East news agency DEBKAfile reports that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has stated for the record that Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation is a right of the the Indigenous population in response to their oppression.

The fact that this is coming from a member of the presiding Fatah faction government administration is a severe blow to the assumed atmosphere of mutual PA/Israeli/U.S. co-operation as it has been portrayed in the U.S. press. With the release of dozens of Fatah militiamen from Israeli prisons in an effort by the United States and Israel to bolster the weakening Fatah, this announcement supports statements by various insiders that the crisis in the West Bank and the Gaza is more important than further concessions to the U.S./Israeli lobby. Fatah has been in control of the Palestinian Authority since Hamas won the right to lead, but not allowed to take power over the political direction of the PA with overwhelming support from the Aboriginal electorate.
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The pro-US Fatah head of the Ramallah government, Salam Fayyad, stated at an Arab League Council meeting in Cairo Monday, July 30: “We are an occupied nation and resistance is the legitimate right of the Palestinian people.”

DEBKAfile notes: “Resistance” is the Palestinian euphemism for armed terror including suicide bombing. The separate Fatah administration on the West Bank omitted the term “resistance” from its platform – at first. As a result, Mahmoud Abbas and Fayyad were hailed as moderates and partners for peace dialogue, while Fayyad, a former Washington banker, was seen in Washington and Jerusalem as a new species of Palestinian leader, who differed from his predecessors who routinely employed diplomatic language which sat easily on Western ears and reserved their true sentiments for Arab audiences.