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Short Preface The Obama administration, like any government, routinely makes
public statements about its intentions, values, and policy imperatives. For
example, the Obama administration claims publicly to be enemy of Iran[1] and friend of Israel. In fact, the US
government claims that “ ‘concerning policy, we have done everything that we
can that is in Israel’s security – and long-range interests.’ ”[2] But what if PLO/Fatah, also known as the ‘Palestinian
Authority,’ is a proxy of Iran? The US government pushes very
hard for Israel to give strategic
territory to PLO/Fatah in exchange
for a promise of ‘peace.’ So if PLO/Fatah
is helping Iran destroy Israel, the US government’s behavior is quite
interesting. About the future PLO/Fatah
state, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu states: “I think it's
important to make peace with the Palestinians. And I’m prepared to negotiate
that peace right away. ...They should have their own independent country.” Consistent
with this, Netanyahu is rushing to give PLO/Fatah its independent state, and has even put Jerusalem on offer.
But Netanyahu has also said: “We should be assured that this country [the
future PLO/Fatah state] is not used
as a staging ground for Iranian-sponsored terrorist attacks on us.” So if
PLO/Fatah is a proxy of Iran, the
Israeli government’s behavior is also quite interesting.[3] One should then ask: What
in the world are the US and Israeli governments doing? This must be answered,
because PLO/Fatah,
like Hamas and Hezbollah, is indeed part of an Iranian offensive to destroy
Israel. We will show here that PLO/Fatah
has always been and continues to be very closely allied with Iran. _____________________________________________________________ Table of Contents █ Short Preface (above) █ PLO/Fatah’s role in Ayatollah Khomeini’s
coup. █ PLO/Fatah’s alignment during the
Iran-Iraq war █ ‘Estrangement’ leads
to renewed love █ What are the US and
Israeli governments doing? _____________________________________________________________ PLO/Fatah’s role in Ayatollah Khomeini’s coup The regime that still rules Iran was inaugurated by Ayatollah
Khomeini (see pictures, top right), a ferocious Islamist terrorist who led
the 1979 Iranian Revolution to depose the previous ruler, the Shah of Iran.
With whom did the Ayatollah Khomeini want to celebrate, right away and before
sharing the joy with anybody else? With Yasser Arafat, then head of PLO/Fatah. It was just two weeks after the Ayatollah Khomeini
returned to Iran and took power that the New York Times reported how
Yasser Arafat had accepted an invitation to visit Teheran. Why so soon? Why
so much deference? Because the Ayatollah Khomeini was grateful: “Palestinian
sources said that Mr. Arafat’s group had sent arms to the [Iranian]
revolutionary forces in the last four months and had trained Iranian
guerillas since the early 1970s.”[4] Only four days later Arafat was
already in Teheran, celebrating the Iranian theocratic Islamist revolution,
and promising to help export it everywhere. Wrote the New York Times:
“Bantering and grinning, the guerrilla leader declined to furnish details
about support the PLO had given to various Iranian guerrilla organizations.”[5] Fact: PLO/Fatah
played a key role in the Iranian revolution, arming and training Khomeini’s
troops. Naturally, PLO/Fatah
expected the favor to be repaid, and the Iranians rushed to state that they
would honor their debts. The Globe and Mail reported: [Quote from Globe
and Mail begins here] Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat said yesterday that Iranian guerrillas would fight
alongside Palestinian forces against Israel. ...
Mr. Arafat, the first prominent
visitor to Iran since the revolution, said the Palestinian and Iranian aims
were identical. “We will continue our efforts until the time when we defeat
imperialism and Zionism,” he said. A
close aide of Ayatollah Khomaini, Deputy Premier
Ibrahim Yazdi, also attended the inauguration of
the PLO office and referred to the identity of the two causes and the large
number of Palestinian sacrifices in the PLO's struggle against Israel. ...
The son of Ayatollah Khomaini, Seyyed Ahmad Khomaini, a Moslem clergyman who also spoke at the
inauguration of the new PLO office, pledged Iran would continue its
revolutionary struggle until all Islamic countries had been set free. The
bearded, black-turbanned Seyyed
Khomaini said: “We will continue our struggle until
we free all Islamic countries and hoist the Palestinian flag together with
ours.”[6] [Quote from Globe
and Mail ends here] Soon after this Arafat bestrode
the world stage as the indispensable best friend of Khomeini, negotiating the
safety of the Americans held hostage in the US Embassy in Teheran at the
request of ...(drum roll)... the US government.[6a] This makes it rather obvious that the PLO was very
powerful in Iran. In fact, the New York Times wrote in November of
1980 that “The P.L.O. currently enjoys close ties with some of the Iranian
revolutionary leaders who rose to power with the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,” including the Defense Minister
Mustafa Chamran and the leader of the Revolutionary
Guards Abu Sharif. “Like Yasir Arafat,” wrote the New York Times, “both
Abu Sharif and Mustafa Chamran are fervent
advocates of exporting Iran’s Islamic revolution to the rest of the Middle
East - in particular, to the conservative states of the Arab [sic] Gulf ”
(emphasis added). The Times also explained that PLO/Fatah
had played a role in the creation of the Revolutionary Guards (for it trained
Abu Sharif) and in creating the new Iranian secret police: SAVAMA (because
Sharif and Chamran “relied heavily on their P.L.O.
contacts” in setting it up). The Times added: “The
current head of the P.L.O. network in Iran is Hani al-Hassan, alias Abu
Hassan, a Jordanian citizen who belongs to Arafat's inner circle of advisers.
Before he was sent to Teheran, Abu Hassan served as deputy chief of Fatah’s
security department. He enjoys a remarkable entree to Khomeini and other
key members of the Iranian regime -- so much so that one Western diplomat
suggests that the P.L.O. envoy should be counted as one of the most
influential men in Teheran.”[6b] [emphasis added] The picture is clear. 1) PLO/Fatah played a key role
in the creation of the Iranian Islamist terror state. a) It armed and trained Khomeini’s troops
for his revolution. b) It helped create the all-important
Revolutionary Guards. c) It helped create the Iranian secret
service SAVAMA. 2) The idea of spreading Iranian
Islamist terror everywhere was closely associated with “the PLO’s struggle
against Israel.” a) Iran pledged itself to assist PLO/Fatah
against Israel. b) PLO/Fatah pledged itself to export the Iranian Islamist Revolution. For years now PLO/Fatah has been represented not only as unlinked to Iran, but also as a secular organization, to be distinguished from the ‘fundamentalists’ and ‘Islamist’ Iranian terror proxies of Hamas and Hezbollah. Most people accept this, and that is a testament to how a media barrage can alter the perception of history. It is obvious, however, that if Yasser Arafat’s ideology was to spread the Iranian Revolution, then he was an Islamist. Historian Howard Sachar, writing in 1982, agreed with how the New York Times represented things back then: “from the outset... the Fatah’s reputation depended largely upon the success of its Moslem traditionalist approach of jihad against Israel.”[6c] Not just any kind of jihad:
Iranian jihad. _____________________________________________________________ PLO/Fatah’s alignment during the Iran-Iraq war To understand just how intimate the relationship
between the Islamist Iranian government and PLO/Fatah, one must take
into account that such a strong alliance with the Iranian Shiites angered almost
every Arab government that was supporting PLO/Fatah. One cannot
imagine that they were pleased to hear Arafat announce his goal of exporting
the Iranian revolution to the Gulf States (see above), because this would
mean deposing the governments in the Gulf States. And yet Yasser Arafat
remained close to his friend Khomeini. A month after the Iran-Iraq war broke out in late 1980,
the Arab governments had sided with Iraq and the situation had become
politically dangerous for Arafat. So much so that Saudi Arabia and other
Persian Gulf states cracked down on their Palestinian populations. “The
reason,” reported the Globe and Mail, “is that the authorities are
suspicious of Palestinian ties to the militant Shiite Moslems in Iran, who
have vowed to export their Islamic revolution.” And it observed: “Palestinian
opinion, while reflecting the PLO’s reluctance to choose sides in a war
between its two allies, appears much more pro-Iranian than that of
conservative Gulf governments” (emphasis added).[7] That was October 1980. In December, this was the
situation: [Quote
from Washington Post begins here] Dependent
on fellow Arab governments for virtually everything -- physical protection,
diplomatic backing, arms, money -- Arafat has had to watch helplessly as the
Persian Gulf war split his benefactors into antagonistic blocs with the PLO
caught uncomfortably in the middle. More
damaging was the way the PLO’s much advertised independence crumbled under
the arm-twisting pressures of the two camps. When the showdown came before
last month’s divided Arab summit meeting, Arafat and the PLO were forced by
Syrian President Hafez Assad, leader of the pro-Iran axis, to join a boycott
of a summit whose aim was to organize a long-term strategy for the
Palestinians’ crusade against Israel.[8] [Quote
from Washington Post ends here] I would call this remarkable. Even though the PLO was
dependent on Arab states for everything, when these states got
together to plan a long-term strategy for the PLO’s fight with Israel, the
PLO sides with Iran. It was “uncomfortable,” sure, but it sided with
Iran. In March 1981 Arafat had a sympathetic meeting with
Iraqi Shiites allied with Iran, as reported by Tehran’s news service. [9] _____________________________________________________________ ‘Estrangement’ leads to renewed love But this could not last. As observed above, the PLO’s
entire infrastructure was based in the Arab states. Soon the PLO was forced
to take a more pro-Arab position. And then, as the Iran-Iraq war was ending
with the cease-fire in 1988, the prelude to the Oslo ‘Peace’ Process was
getting into high gear. This process quite suddenly represented the terrorist
PLO/Fatah as a moderate organization that wanted to make peace.
So to keep matters propagandistically consistent, Iran just had to
accuse Arafat of ‘treason’ against the Palestinian cause, while Arafat just had
to pronounce himself in public against Iranian terrorism. Thus, for example, when a bomb exploded in Tel Aviv in
1996, the Egyptian news agency MENA reported that Arafat was blaming the
Iranians: “Nabil Abu Rudaynah, adviser to
Palestinian President Yasir Arafat, ...accused
foreign, non-Palestinian, elements in the region of being behind these
terrorist incidents to wreck the peace process. He specifically accused
Iran...”[10] Shortly
before that, Arafat had claimed that two Palestinians working for Iran had
tried to assassinate him.[11] This is how a story of ‘estrangement’ between Arafat
(formerly Khomeini’s best friend) and the Iranian regime was built. But was it true? Just one year later, the Palestinian daily Al Quds
reported that a top PLO/Fatah leader had come back from Iran with a
renewed relationship. What’s an assassination attempt between friends? But in
fact this made perfect propaganda sense, because the newly elected Iranian
president Mohammad Khatami was supposed to be an Iranian Gorbachev pushing
liberal reforms, and Arafat was ‘making peace’ with Israel. Under this guise,
an open friendship could resume.[12] In 2002 the Second Intifada, a series of hair-raising
terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, was raging. This was Arafat’s
-- that is to say, PLO/Fatah’s -- war. Not even
the mainstream Western media, so often a cheerleader for Arafat, was denying
that most of the violence was due to the activities of Al Aqsa Martyrs
Brigade, a Fatah terrorist group. Here is the Times of
London, in April 2002: “A new group directly linked to Yasser
Arafat’s Fatah movement through its Tanzim military
wing, the [Al Aqsa Martyrs] brigades are behind the majority of recent
shootings and suicide attacks against Israelis.”[14] And here is The Australian, in September of 2003: “Israeli
officials said documents captured last year in a massive military raid on the
West Bank [Judea & Samaria] after a series of suicide bombings inside
Israel showed the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which carried out many of the
attacks, was an arm of Fatah,
Arafat’s political organisation. They also said the
documents proved the Palestinian Authority’s [i.e. PLO/Fatah’s] intelligence apparatus, also headed by Arafat, was
involved in planning terror activity. Israeli
officials said the documents showed Arafat had personally authorised
fund transfers for such activity. ‘Arafat views terrorism as a legitimate
tool for obtaining the Palestinian national goal,’ said one official.”[15] In the Second Intifada, behind PLO/Fatah, was Iran. Here
is the Christian Science Monitor,
writing in January 2002 under the headline: “Palestinian ties to
Iran, Hizbullah look firmer”: [Quote
from the Christian Science Monitor begins here] ...[T]he
once-frosty relationship between Iran and Arafat appears to have thawed since
the outbreak of the [second] intifada in September 2000. Iran, which opposes
Israel's very existence, is a staunch backer of the intifada, opening its
hospitals to wounded Palestinians, training fighters, and rallying support
for the uprising. In
April last year, Tehran hosted a conference for 34 Arab and Islamic countries
and organizations. All the hard-line Palestinian
groups were there as well as Hizbullah. But also
attending was a representative of the Palestinian Authority, Salim Al Zeenoun, who admitted that the Oslo Accords had turned
out to be a “sandcastle of illusion.” Two
months later, Arafat sent a telegram to Iranian President Mohammed Khatami to
congratulate him on his re-election. “We
look to all the people of the Islamic world, foremost among them the Muslim
Iranian people and their faithful leadership, to support, aid, and assist
[Palestine],” Arafat said. He also asked Iran to “work fast to end this
bloody and savage war which the Israeli government has been waging for eight
solid months.” Israel
says that the military alliance between Iran and Arafat and the scheme to
smuggle a shipload of [Iranian] weapons to the Palestinian Authority [the
famous Karine A incident] was born at around this
time. [13] [Quote
from the Christian Science Monitor ends here] So PLO/Fatah, once
installed inside Israel thanks to the Oslo ‘Peace’ Process, began functioning
as a terrorist proxy of Iran. At the same time, however, the road was being prepared
for Mahmoud Abbas to posture as the anti-terror ‘peacemaker.’ Notice what The Australian wrote in September
2003: “Palestinian
prime minister Mahmoud Abbas resigned last month after Arafat refused to hand
over control of the security forces Abbas said he needed to make Hamas and
Islamic Jihad halt their suicide bombings.”[15] So, yes, the terrorist activity is all being directed
by Arafat, but when Abbas takes over there will be peace, became the media
message. In fact, the mainstream Western media went quite out of its way to
laud Mahmoud Abbas (alias Abu Mazen) as a supposed
arch moderate. Only one problem with this. The Al Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades -- the most violent Palestinian terrorists, and the ones most
involved in the Second Intifada that Iran was sponsoring -- in fact preferred
Abbas to their own Tanzim boss Marwan Barghouti as a replacement for Arafat when the latter
died. An Associated Press wire dated December 2004 reports that: “Abbas
already has been nominated as Fatah’s presidential candidate, so Barghouti must run as an independent. But as a leading
Fatah member, he would likely undermine Abbas’ prospects… Zakaria Zubeidi, the 29-year-old West Bank leader of the Al Aqsa
Martyrs’ Brigades, a violent group linked to Fatah, said he would back Abbas.
‘Barghouti. . .should resign from Fatah,’ he told
The Associated Press.”[16] It is already clear that Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades was
linked to Iran, because Iran was sponsoring the Second Intifada, which was
being waged especially by the Brigades. In fact, only two months earlier,
with Arafat still alive, the Daily Telegraph had reported: “Israel
believes that much of the Fatah-affiliated armed faction, calling itself the
Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, has now come under Iran's sway, especially in the
West Bank [Judea & Samaria].” Who were they directly working with? None other than
Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy Fatah is supposedly so different from: “Scores
of Palestinian attacks, accounting for roughly a third of the 98 Israelis
killed so far this year, are believed to have been orchestrated by the
Lebanese Hizbollah movement.” Arafat did not deny this, though he tried to give it a
different spin: he claimed to be upset, and accused Iran of trying to
“infiltrate Fatah.”[17] The upshot is that
nobody was denying—not even Arafat—that Iran was heavily involved with the
PLO/Fatah terrorists, the same terrorists who pushed for Mahmoud Abbas
becoming the new PLO/Fatah leader. Oh wait. Somebody would
deny the link between PLO/Fatah and
Iran. Guess who? The Israeli
government. As Frontpage magazine explained in 2007: [Quote from Frontpage begin
here] “Iran’s direct connection to Hamas is openly discussed and widely acknowledged. Where Fatah is concerned, the issues are more complex; but the link has been established. In March, Brig. Gen. (ret.) Shalom Harari, a Senior Research Scholar with the Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, wrote an Issue Brief for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs in which he noted: ‘There is a growing strategic alliance between Iran and the radical Palestinian forces in the territories. Iran is involved in supporting both the Islamic factions and Fatah, as well. Today, at least 40 percent of Fatah’s different fighting groups are also paid by Hezbollah and Iran.’ Corroborating Harari’s analysis, Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant, head of the IDF Southern Command, wrote an Issue Brief for the JCPA one month later in which he observed: ‘A few years ago, Fatah’s Al Aqsa Brigade in Judea and Samaria was bought out by Iran.’ Checks with various security and intelligence sources have provided additional confirmation of this information. Iranian funding of Fatah is not direct, but comes through the conduit of Hezbollah and goes in the main to Al Aqsa Brigades. The government of Israel... maintains that Al Aqsa [Martyrs Brigades], although originally a spin-off from Fatah, is no longer part of Fatah and no longer answers to Abbas. This spin makes it possible to continue to promote Fatah as potentially moderate, in spite of Al Aqsa’s very radical connections. Experts refute this scenario, however. Said one security source who provided background information: ‘Abbas is formally the commander of Al Aqsa…he has little to do with them to ensure deniability…but privately supports Al Aqsa. US money to PA security agencies go to Al Aqsa people as well. Indeed, Abbas has ensured that most of the Al Aqsa people are on the payroll.’”[17a] [Quote from Frontpage ends
here] The Israeli government goes out of its way to pretend
that Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is not part of Al Fatah, thus supporting Abbas,
who pretends that he has nothing to do with them in order “to ensure
deniability” for Al Aqsa’s murders of Israeli civilians. The Israeli government is covering for those who murder Israeli
citizens. We have already seen above how absurd the Israeli government’s
position, for Abbas owes his position to Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades: they were
the ones lobbying for him—marching in the streets, in fact—and intimidating
his competition. So PLO/Fatah (or
the ‘Palestinian Authority’) is allied with Iran to destroy the State of
Israel. But the US government wants PLO/Fatah to inherit
strategic Israeli territory. And the Israeli government is cooperating. What are they doing? _____________________________________________________________ What are the US and Israeli governments doing? It is now probably a good idea to review HIR’s First
Principles, in order to do some hard thinking about US geopolitics. ARGUMENT A. Premise 1. The way to do better geopolitics is to have a more accurate
representation of the intentions and capabilities of other players in the
international system. Premise 2. The Government of the United States, the most important
geopolitical player, has the strongest motivation to do better geopolitics. Therefore: The Government of the United States works very hard to obtain
a better understanding of the intentions and capabilities of other players in
the international system. Fact: CIA director George Tenet said in the year 1998 that the
budget on that year had been a little under 27 billion. Recently, a US
Intelligence official said in a press conference that the yearly budget was
now 44 billion. But the truth is that nobody knows for sure, because the budget for US Intelligence is a state secret. Hypothesis: The Government of the United States has very good
information—definitely better than my own—on which to base its geopolitical
decisions. ARGUMENT B. Premise 1. The Government of the United States, for many years running,
has been the most powerful in the world. Premise 2. Idiots don’t become the most powerful people in the world. Therefore: The Government of the United States is not run by idiots. Hypothesis: If the Government of the United States behaves in ways that
seem idiotic to me, then a) there is something I don’t yet understand; or b) this
government has different values than my own. Or both. (And I have yet to
accept this, which is why I think the behavior is idiotic.) ARGUMENT C. Premise 1. The true preferences of someone are revealed in his/her expensive
behaviors. Premise 2. Saying “My intentions are X” is not expensive but cheap. Therefore: Speech acts (e.g. public and official declarations) don’t
necessarily convey information about the true intentions of a government. Hypothesis: If the Government of the United States consistently, year
after year, spends billions of dollars and achieves always similar results,
and if these results contradict the government’s publicly declared
intentions, the publicly declared intentions must be deliberate deceptions. US Intelligence knows perfectly well everything that I
have documented in this article. And it knew it long before I did. Hence, the
US Government is applying very strong pressure on Israel to create a
‘Palestinian State’ run by PLO/Fatah on strategic Israeli territory
knowing full well that PLO/Fatah is allied with Iran to destroy
Israel. Is this consistent with other expensive US
Government behaviors? It is. As we have documented on HIR, the entire history of US foreign policy toward Iran,
despite the loud public condemnations, is one of consistent and dramatic
assistance to Iran’s long-term goals.[19] On the basis of this evidence we may conclude that when President Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel states to a group of rabbis that “ ‘concerning policy, we have done everything that we can that is in Israel’s security -- and long-range interests,’ ” the Obama administration is lying.[2] If the US government is lying, then we must consider the alternative hypothesis: that the US Government -- not the American people, but the US Government -- is an enemy of Israel. Does this make sense? It is certainly consistent with HIR’s detailed investigation of US foreign policy
toward the Jewish people and state since the 1930s, which shows conclusively
that -- contrary to popular belief -- the US ruling elite has always worked
hard to undermine Israeli security.[21] Israeli leaders are cooperating with this process,
because they have not yet expelled PLO/Fatah from Israel. On the
contrary. Though they pretend to drag their feet, they are engaged in an
on-again, off-again process with PLO/Fatah that (let’s face it) is
designed to give it everything it wants, in exchange for... Well, for
nothing, because PLO/Fatah has not laid down its arms and does not
intend to. The
Israeli government is also much better informed than I am, and likewise knew
everything I have reviewed here long before I did. After all, the
documentation I use is publicly available, and one of the main targets of
Israeli intelligence-gathering is, naturally, PLO/Fatah.
So what are Israeli leaders doing? It is an important question. Any effort to begin answering this question must
examine what certain important Jewish leaders did in the prelude to, and
during, World War II. HIR has much documentation on this topic, but two
articles in particular offer a good place to start. First, to examine the behavior of (soon-to-be) Israeli
leaders during the Holocaust, please read: ► “The
responsibility of the mainstream (Labor Zionist) Israeli leaders during the
Shoah ('Holocaust')”; from THE PROBLEM OF JEWISH SELF-DEFENSE: An HIR series;
Historical and Investigative Research; 21 February 2007; by Francisco
Gil-White Then, to examine the behavior of a string of Israeli
prime ministers, consistent with the history documented above, please read: ►”Leaders Lied,
Jews died: Why have Israeli leaders been lying to their fellow citizens about
the PLO/Fatah?; Historical and Investigative Research; 10 July 2007; by
Francisco Gil-White (with the editorial assistance of Ted Belman) If History is indeed repeating itself, then the Jewish
people is in great peril, for when the causes recur, so do the consequences. And
if the Jewish people is in peril, then so are ordinary people all over the
West, because 2500 years of Western history show conclusively that periods of
Jewish persecution coincide with periods of savage oppression against
non-Jews (a recent and dramatic example is the 20th c. Holocaust).
Footnotes and Further Reading [1] Last Friday it was reported that “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is pushing for another round of United Nations sanctions against Iran.” Here, the US government is projecting that Iran is the bad guys and that the US will work to undermine Iran. SOURCE:
“Obama the appeaser; The transnational dove has left a vacuum that Iran is
filling”; The Washington Times, May 21, 2010 Friday, B, COMMENTARY; Pg. 3,
777 words, By Jeffrey T. Kuhner SPECIAL TO THE
WASHINGTON TIMES [2] A week ago, President Obama’s chief of staff Rahm
Emmanuel stated to a group of rabbis that “ ‘concerning policy, we have done
everything that we can that is in Israel’s security – and long-range
interests. Watch what the administration does.’ ”
Here, the US government is projecting that Israel is the good guys
and will work to strengthen Israel. SOURCE:
“US ‘screwed up’ message on Israel, Emanuel tells rabbis. Officials deny
administration changing view on Israeli nuclear policy”; The Jerusalem Post,
May 16, 2010 Sunday, NEWS; Pg. 1, 1197 words, HERB KEINON, JTA contributed to
this report. [3] Interview With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; CNN;
July 7, 2010 Wednesday; NEWS; International; 5805 words; Larry King [4] “The PLO announced today that its chairman, Yasser Arafat,
had accepted an invitation to visit Teheran soon. It also said that followers
of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had seized the
former Israeli diplomatic mission in Teheran, and the PLO had accepted an
offer to turn it into a Palestinian embassy. Wafa,
the Palestinian press service, reported that the Ayatollah’s forces had
contacted Mr. Arafat by telephone yesterday and proclaimed their solidarity
and gave their thanks. Palestinian
sources said that Mr. Arafat’s group had sent arms to the revolutionary
forces in the last four months and had trained Iranian guerillas since the
early 1970s.” SOURCE: P.L.O. Is Cool to Dayan Remarks; Statements
Given Prominence; By MARVINE HOWE Special to The New York Times. New York
Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Feb 15, 1979. p. A12 (1 page) [5] “An exultant Yasir Arafat, leader
of the Palestine Liberation Organization, proclaimed here today that the
Iranian revolution had ‘turned upside down’ the balance of forces in the
Middle East. ‘Today
Iran, tomorrow Palestine,’ he said. Mr.
Arafat received a pledge from Ayatollah Khomeini that the Iranians would
‘turn to the issue of victory over Israel’ after Iran had consolidated its
strength, the Teheran radio reported. …Bantering
and grinning, the guerrilla leader declined to furnish details about support
the PLO had given to various Iranian guerrilla organizations, saying: ‘It is
enough that we are here, and no matter how much we have helped we cannot
offer as much back as the Iranian people have offered us. It is enough for us
to be among the Iranian people. Asked whether
the Palestinian movement felt ‘stronger’ since the Iranian uprising, he said: ‘Definitely.
It has changed completely the whole strategy and policy in this area. It has
been turned upside down.’ ” SOURCE: Arafat, in Iran, Reports Khomeini Pledges Aid
for Victory Over Israel; Visit a Sign of Iran's Sharp Turn; ARAFAT, IN
TEHERAN, PRAISES THE VICTORS; By JAMES M. MARKHAM Special to The New York
Times. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Feb 19, 1979. p.
A1 (2 pages) [6] “Four more generals executed; PLO, Iran will fight Israel,
Arafat says”; The Globe and Mail.
Toronto, Ont.: Feb 20, 1979. p. P.10 [6a] “Grand Theater: The US, The PLO, and the
Ayatollah Khomeini: Why did the US government, in 1979, delegate to the PLO
the task of negotiating the safety of American hostages at the US embassy in
Tehran?”; Historical and Investigative Research; 10 December 2005; by
Francisco Gil-White [6b]
“The P.L.O. currently enjoys
close ties with some of the Iranian revolutionary leaders who rose to power
with the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. One of the
most intriguing delegates at the Fatah conference in Damascus at the end of
May, for example, was Arbas-Agha Zahani whose nom de guerre is Abu Sharif. He was then the
head of the Ayatollah's Revolutionary Guards, or Pasdaran Enghelab,
a post he resigned in a power play in June that was designed to weaken the
position of the relatively ''moderate'' President Abolhassan
Bani-Sadr. (Abu Sharif was subsequently reappointed deputy chief of the
Pasdaran Enghelab.) Abu Sharif rose to a position
of influence thanks to the patronage of the present Iranian Defense Minister,
Mustafa Chamran. Like Yasir
Arafat, both Abu Sharif and Mustafa Chamran are
fervent advocates of exporting Iran’s Islamic revolution to the rest of the
Middle East - in particular, to the conservative states of the Arab Gulf. Abu
Sharif's links with Arafat, Abu Jihad and other key figures in the P.L.O.
leadership date back to the early 1970’s, when he attended a guerrilla
training course at a Fatah camp in Lebanon. After the downfall of the Shah,
Abu Sharif and Mustafa Chamran relied heavily on
their P.L.O. contacts for help in setting up a new secret police to replace
the Sha's notoriouus Savak.
A special P.L.O. unit, whose members had received intelligence training in
the Soviet Union, was dispatched to Teheran to assist in rooting out
‘counterrevolutionaries.’ Abu Sharif repaid his personal debt to the P.L.O.
by successfully lobbying -- with the backing of, among others, one of the
Ayatollah's grandsons -- for a big Iranian contribution to the Palestinian
war chest and for the dispatch of more than 200 Iranian ‘volunteers’ to fight
with the P.L.O. in southern Lebanon The
current head of the P.L.O. network in Iran is Hani al-Hassan, alias Abu
Hassan, a Jordanian citizen who belongs to Arafat's inner circle of advisers.
Before he was sent to Teheran, Abu Hassan served as deputy chief of Fatah’s
security department. He enjoys a remarkable entree to Khomeini and other
key members of the Iranian regime -- so much so that one Western diplomat
suggests that the P.L.O. envoy should be counted as one of the most
influential men in Teheran.” [emphasis added] SOURCE: “TERROR: A SOVIET EXPORT”; New York Times.
(Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Nov 2, 1980. pg. A.42; by Robert
Moss NOTE: though the PLO supposedly rooted out
“counterrevolutionaries” to help create the Ayatollah’s new secret service, exiled Iranians were pointing out that the new SAVAMA
was almost identical in all its personnel to the old CIA-created SAVAK. This would make sense if the
Islamist Iranians and PLO/Fatah all answered to the same (US) master.
Otherwise it is very strange. [6c] Sachar, H. 1982. A history
of Israel: From the rise of Zionism to our time. New York: Knopf. (pp.
698) [7] MANAMA BAHREIN -- MANAMA, Bahrein (AP) - Saudi Arabia and
other Persian Gulf states have tightened restrictions on an estimated 400,000
Palestinians since the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war, diplomatic sources say. A ban
on political gatherings by Palestinians has been imposed and strict visa
requirements are being rigidly enforced. The reason is that the authorities
are suspicious of Palestinian ties to the militant Shiite Moslems in Iran,
who have vowed to export their Islamic revolution. Other
sources said that Yasser Arafat, head of the Lebanon-based Palestine
Liberation Organization, has reassured Persian Gulf governments that his
guerrilla movement would never upset the stability of the oil- rich area and
ordered his representatives in Gulf capitals to remain neutral in the
Iran-Iraq conflict. “The PLO has been treading a delicate path of neutrality
between Iraq and Iran and that has not been easy,” one Arab diplomat said.
“Iraq, and all other Arab powers, insist that the PLO must put its political
cards on the table and declare its unchangeable commitment to the Arab cause
against that of the (non-Arab) Persians.” At the same time, Iranian leaders
are reported to have asked the Palestinians to support Iran in return for
their support of the guerrilla movement. Palestinian
opinion, while reflecting the PLO’s reluctance to choose sides in a war
between its two allies, appears much more pro-Iranian than that of
conservative Gulf governments.” [emphasis added] SOURCE: “Gulf states tighten hold on Palestinians”; The
Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ont.: Oct 23, 1980. p. P.14 [8] “War, arab Feuding Leave Arafat,
PLO in Disarray; Gulf War and Arab Feuding Leave Arafat and PLO in Disarray”;
The Washington Post, December 14, 1980, Sunday, Final Edition, First Section;
A1, 1487 words, By Loren Jenkins, Washington Post Foreign Service [9] “Arafat's
Meeting with Iraqi Da'wah Party Delegation”; BBC
Summary of World Broadcasts, March 3, 1981, Tuesday, Part 4 The Middle East
and Africa; A. THE MIDDLE EAST; ME/6663/A/8; , 395 words. TEXT: BBC
Summary of World Broadcasts A
delegation representing the Da'wah Islamic Party in
Iraq met with Brother Yasir Arafat the Chairman of
the PLO Executive Committee and member of the delegation commissioned to
study the issue of the war that has been imposed on Iran by the Iraqi regime,
at noon today. The
spokesman for the Iraqi Da'wah Islamic Party
briefed Brother Arafat on the measures of suppression, oppression and
banishment that have been carried out by the infidel Tikriti
regime against the Iraqi Mujahidin. The spokesman, who supported his statement
with pictures, statistics and documents, added that during the past year
alone, Saddam's regime had killed and executed 100,000 Iraqi strugglers. The
spokesman added that the Iraqi regime's suppressive measures have escalated
to the extent that even women, children and old men are not spared. They,
too, have been subjected to tyranny, injustice, imprisonment and execution. The
spokesman stressed that the stance of the government of the Islamic Republic
of Iran did not represent the stance of the Government and people of Iran
alone, but also the claims of more than 60,000 exiled Iraqis and the claims
of the help- less Iraqi people. Speaking to Brother Arafat, the Iraqi
spokesman added: We ask you, as a true revolutionary, not to deal with us in
terms of international political principles and international relations; we
call upon you to help our voice of truth be heard through- out the world and
to pressure Saddam's bloody infidel regime to change its position on the
oppressed Iraqi people and end the war he has imposed on both of the Muslim
peoples in Iraq and Iran. Then
one of the Iraqi mujahidin spoke and said to Brother Arafat: O Brother Abu
Ammar, I am a struggler and revolutionary just as you are, and my duty is to
fight at your side against the Zionist regime and for the liberation of
Palestine and not to be exiled by Saddam's regime to Iran after a period of
torture. Then the struggler showed the marks that remained on his body after
being tortured by the Iraqi regime to Brother Arafat, and said that the
torture carried out by Saddam's gang against the Iraqi mujahidin was much
more than that carried out by the Zionist entity against the Palestinian
combatants. Seeing and hearing all this, Brother Arafat could not prevent his
tears of sympathy for the Iraqi brothers from falling. . . [10] “PALESTINIAN REACTION; Arafat's adviser accuses Iran of
sheltering terrorism”; BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, March 5, 1996,
Tuesday, Part 4 The Middle East; THE MIDDLE EAST; AFTERMATH OF TEL AVIV
BOMBING; EE/D2553/ME, 326 words [11] “ ‘SABOTAGE’ ATTEMPT; Two pro-Iran Palestinians reported
arrested for plotting to kill Arafat”; BBC Summary of World Broadcasts,
February 21, 1996, Wednesday, Part 4 The Middle East; THE MIDDLE EAST;
ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS; EE/D2541/ME, 79 words [12] “Bethlehem: Brig-Gen Abu Khalid al-Lahham,
who recently returned from Iran, said that Hojjat ol-Eslam Mohammad Khatami is considered a close friend of
Palestine and the Palestinian people, as well as a personal friend of
President Yasir Arafat. Moreover, he called him the
Iranian Napoleon and described him as Iran's saviour. In an
exclusive interview, Lahham said... the new Iranian
leadership will strive to refute its image of exporting revolution and
interfering in the internal affairs of other people. On the
internal level, the new leadership will engage in building a free economy and
will allow freedom of thought and faith and the formation of political
parties. Lahham,
who arrived in Iran 10 days before the elections on an assignment by
President Yasir Arafat, added that the new
leadership will support the Palestinian people with all their leaders and
inclinations, including the peace process, but it will fight to defend its
role and presence as a major Middle Eastern state. The Palestinian people
will be able to ask for Iran's support” SOURCE: “Arafat adviser visits Iran, brings message of
support for Palestinians”; BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, June 12, 1997,
Thursday, Part 4 The Middle East; THE MIDDLE EAST; ISRAEL; ME/D2943/MED, 428
words [13] “Palestinian ties to Iran, Hizbullah
look firmer”; Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA), January 18, 2002,
Friday, WORLD; Pg. 08, 1353 words, Nicholas Blanford
Special to The Christian Science Monitor [14] “A bitter taste for vengeance”; Sunday Times (London), April
7, 2002, Sunday, Features, 2938 words, Marie Colvin in Ramallah [15] “Arch-terrorist or hero of peace: Arafat's enduring image”;
The Australian, September 25, 2003 Thursday All-round Country Edition,
WORLD-TYPE- FEATURE-BIOG- YASSER ARAFAT; Pg. 8, 1079 words, Abraham Rabinovich [16] Barghouti Seeking Palestinian Presidency,
Associated Press Online, December 1, 2004 Wednesday, INTERNATIONAL NEWS, 836
words, MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH; Associated Press Writer, RAMALLAH, West Bank [17] “Israel believes that much of the Fatah-affiliated armed
faction, calling itself the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, has now come under
Iran's sway, especially in the West Bank. Scores of
Palestinian attacks, accounting for roughly a third of the 98 Israelis killed
so far this year, are believed to have been orchestrated by the Lebanese Hizbollah movement. The Shia
group pioneered the use of suicide bombings in the 1980s, kidnapped
westerners and successfully drove the Israeli army out of south Lebanon in
2000. Hizbollah is now a political party in
Lebanon. ‘Hizbollah is a finger of Iran's hand,’ the senior Israeli
security source said. ‘In the past year we can see increasing Iranian
influence in Palestinian attacks on Israel. ‘The same
people sometimes receive money both from Arafat's headquarters and from Hizbollah. If the attack succeeds in causing fatalities,
they get a bonus from Hizbollah.’ Another
security source said Hizbollah rewards Palestinian
cells to the tune of $5,000 ( pounds 2,900) for each Israeli killed. Israel
regards Teheran as its mortal enemy, and has every interest in presenting
Iran as a dangerous state sponsor of international terrorism. But on the
issue of penetrating Fatah, Israel is in unusual agreement with Palestinian
leaders. Yasser Arafat,
the Palestinian ‘president’ who has been confined to his Ramallah
headquarters for more than three years, said this week that Hizbollah was trying to infiltrate Fatah. He said
Iran was financing radical Islamist groups, and denounced Iran's spiritual
leader, Ali Khamenei. He said:
‘Khamenei is working against us. He is giving money to all these fanatical
groups. Khamenei is a troublemaker.’ ” SOURCE: “Iran ‘in control of terrorism in Israel’; Hizbollah, described as a ‘finger of Teheran's hand,’ is said
to be paying $5,000 for every Israeli killed.” Anton La Guardia reports from
Tel Aviv; THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON), October 15, 2004, Friday, 803 words,
by Anton La Guardia [17a]
“The Fatah–Iranian Connection”; Frontpage June 8, 2007; By Arlene Kushner. [18] The Israeli soldiers were under orders to protect civilians
(apparently no matter the cost, because they defended themselves, at first,
with non-weapons such as paint-ball guns). It was only after one of
the wounded Israeli soldiers was thrown from the upper deck and the lethal
weapons of the soldiers were taken from them by the attackers, that their
fellow soldiers opened fire to protect them. The result was that some of the
attackers died. The images
of the brutal attack against the Israeli soldiers—a blood curling lyinching—are available to the public. [19] “THE US AND IRAN : FRIENDS OR FOES?”; Conference presented by
Francisco Gil-White, Raúl Baillères Auditorium,
ITAM; 30 August, 2016; Historical and
Investigative Research [20] “How did the ‘Palestinian movement’ emerge? The British
sponsored it. Then the German Nazis, and the US”; from UNDERSTANDING THE
PALESTINIAN MOVEMENT: An HIR Series, in four parts; Historical and
Investigative Research; 13 June 2006; by Francisco Gil-White [21] “Is the US an ally of Israel?: A
chronological look at the evidence”; Historical and Investigative Research;
by Francisco Gil-White |
Iranian dictator the Imam or Ayatollah Khomeini and PLO/Fatah leader Yasser Arafat:
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