Arafat Quotes

• I do not support peace in the Middle East. And I do not support Arafat. He is a stupid, incompetent fool!

  Muammar al-Gaddafi

  Stupid, Support, Middle East

  "Red Horizons: Chronicles of a Communist Spy Chief". Book by Ion Mihai Pacepa, 1987.

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• Unfortunately, little attention was paid to how Arafat ruled. In fact, some saw the harsh and repressive nature of Arafat's regime as actually bolstering the prospects for peace.

  Natan Sharansky

  Peace, Attention, Racist

  4 Copy quote

• The Palestinian people have no national identity.
  I, Yasser Arafat, man of destiny, will give them that identity through conflict with Israel.

  Yasser Arafat

  Destiny, Men, Israel

  123 Copy quote

• Arafat rejected the deal because, as a dictator who had directed all his energies toward strengthening the Palestinians hatred toward Israel, Arafat could not afford to make peace.

  Natan Sharansky

  Peace, Israel, Hatred

  5 Copy quote

• War is something Arafat sends others to do for him. That is, the poor souls who believe in him. This pompous incompetent caused the failure of the Camp David negotiations, Clinton's mediation.

  Oriana Fallaci

  War, Believe, Soul

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• Khomeini was not a puppet like Arafat or Qaddafi or the many other dictators I met in the Islamic world. He was a sort of Pope, a sort of king - a real leader.

  Oriana Fallaci

  Kings, Real, Islamic

  "The Agitator" by Margaret Talbot, www.newyorker.com. June 5, 2006.

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• Palestinians no longer blamed Yasser Arafat or Hamas for their troubles. Now they blamed the Israelis for killing their children. But I still couldn't escape a fundamental question: Why were those children out there in the first place? Where were the parents? Why didn't their mothers and fathers keep them inside? Those children should have been sitting at their desks in school, not running in the streets throwing stones at armed soldiers.

  Mosab Hassan Yousef

  Mother, Running, Children

  Mosab Hassan Yousef (2011). “Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices”, p.158, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

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• Hamas, the opponents of Arafat, the opponents of peace, urged a boycott of the election, and yet there was an 85 percent turnout where Hamas is supposed to be strong. Isnt that really quite incredible?

  Warren Christopher

  Strong, Opponents, Election

  51 Copy quote

• Arafat's departure has created an awesome opportunity.

  Joe Biden

  Opportunity, Departure

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• The central premise behind Oslo was that if Arafat were given enough legitimacy, territory, weapons and money, he would use his power to fight terror and make peace with Israel.

  Natan Sharansky

  Peace, Fighting, Israel

  56 Copy quote

• It is not surprising, then, that in the decade since Oslo began, Arafat used all the resources placed at his disposal to fan the flames of hatred against Israel.

  Natan Sharansky

  Israel, Flames, Hatred

  52 Copy quote

• In many ways, I regard Sharon and Arafat as birds of a feather.

  Amos Oz

  Bird, Way, Sharon

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• First of all, Arafat is wrong. Jerusalem is Israel's capital, will never be divided, and will remain the capital of the State of Israel, the capital of the Jewish people, for ever and ever.

  Benjamin Netanyahu

  Israel, People, Jerusalem

  36 Copy quote

• Arafat contradicts himself every five minutes. He always plays the double-cross, lies even if you ask him what time it is.

  Oriana Fallaci

  Lying, Play, Double Standard

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• In my view, Arafat is the only Palestinian in the world that isn't willing to have an independent Palestinian state.

  Silvan Shalom

  Independent, Views, World

  Interview with Elizabeth Farnsworth, www.pbs.org. February 1, 2004.

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• I enter negotiations with Chairman Arafat, the leader of the PLO, the representative of the Palestinian people, with the purpose to have coexistence between our two entities, Israel as a Jewish state and Palestinian state, entity, next to us, living in peace.

  Yitzhak Rabin

  Israel, Two, People

  33 Copy quote

• Arafat was a barrier to peace.

  Charles Schumer

  Barriers

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• Be certain that Yasser Arafat’s final days are numbered, but allow us to finish him off our way, not yours. And be sure as well that … the promises I made in front of President Bush, I will give my life to keep.

  Mohammed Dahlan

  Giving, Promise, President

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• Ask Bill Clinton about Yasir Arafat. Clinton and Barak did everything they could in 2000 at Camp David. Arafat walked away from it.

  Peter King

  Bills, Clinton, Camps

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• We are a people with no army, no navy, no air force, no arms. It's people, thousands of people, who are feeling, sensing the sense of urgency, fearing for the president of their life - the life of their president, trying to protect their democratic choice, because Arafat is the elected leader of the Palestinian people.

  Saeb Erekat

  Army, Air, People

  Interview With Mark Davis, www.sbs.com.au. August 23, 2013.

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• The principal sponsors of the terrorists are not religious fanatics. "Palestine's Yasser Arafat, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, and Syria's Assad family have made themselves the icons of Islamism despite the fact that they are well-known atheists who live un-Muslim lives and have persecuted unto death the Muslim movements in their countries."

  William F. Buckley, Jr.

  Country, Religious, Atheist

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• Arafat's whole life has been governed by struggle and a cause. Everything he has done as leader of the Palestinians is to always leave his options open, never close a door.

  Dennis A. Ross

  Struggle, Doors, Leader

  "Fox News Sunday" with Brit Hume, www.foxnews.com. April 21, 2002.

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• All you need to know about Arafat was that he insisted on wearing a pistol when he addressed the UN General Assembly. And all you need to know about the UN, I suppose, is that they let him.

  James Lileks

  Needs, Politics, Pistols

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• Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas have recognized Israel's right to exist. The Israeli government has never recognized our right to a sovereign state and self-determination.

  Khaled Mashal

  Israeli

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• Like Mahmoud Abbas. He is not gaining anything. He puts conditions and Israel ignores them. Israel doesn’t give him any hint that they will accept a single one of his conditions. Let me tell you. Arafat went to Oslo and signed [the agreement]. What did Israel do? They confined him in Muqata in one room and killed him.

  Leila Khaled

  Israel, Agreement, Giving

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