When Bashar al-Assad greeted the pope in Damascus on May 5, 2001 and declared
his hatred for the Jews, mentioning also how they killed Jewsus Christ and
tortured him, the pope, who can barely speak now anyway, stuck to his prepared
speech - but French Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger did say subsequently:
"If this is what President Assad really thinks about the Jews, all I have
to say to all those seeking peace in the Middle East is: `Don't waste your
time. Go back to your countries and find something else to do."
And he is right. It is difficult to know which is worse, the prejudice of
secularists like al-Assad or the raw hatred of the Wahhabi Islamic extremists.
The center of Wahhabism is in Saudi Arabia and it's extremism is spreading and
influencing the entire Muslim world.
"In his Book of Tawhid, ibn Abdul Wahhab (the founder of Wahhabism) advanced an
extremely anti-Christian and anti-Jewish agenda, describing the followers of
both religions as sorcerers who believed in devil worship (al-shaitan). He
cited a hadith, or oral tradition, that the punishment for the sorcerer is
`that he be struck with the sword.' He wrote that both groups had improperly
made the graves of their Prophets into places of worship, and warned Muslims
not to replicate their historical errors. Ibn Abdul Wahhab concluded, `The ways
of the people of the book are condemned as those of polytheists.' This analysis
made Wahhabism far more intolerant of Christianity and Judaism than classical
Islam had been." (Dore Gold, Hatred's Kingdom" 2003)
"On July 2, 2001, sitting in his Gaza office, Arafat called Barghouti, who was
in Ramallah, and instructed him to kill a Jew before the end of the day. Arafat
specified that he would prefer an attack inside Israel proper, or at the very
least in Area C. Israeli intelligence intercepted and recorded the call and
promptly gave the kitchenette a transcript. In another early July phone call,
Arafat instructed his senior commanders to `kill a settler every day' and to
`shoot at settlers everywhere.' `Woe to you,' he admonished his commanders, `if
you let them reach their homes in peace or travel in the roads peacefully.'
What prompted these orders was the Palestinians' assessment of the overall
outcome of Sharon's visit to Washington and the need to prevent the Bush
administraiton from furthering its udnerstandings with the Sharon government."
(Yossef Bodansky, "The High Cost of Peace", 2002)
"In an early July meeting with senior officials in Gaza, Arafat explicitly
stressed the irrelevance of the political process---much more so than in
earlier meetings. `Don't pay attention to what I say in the media, the
television, or in public sessions,' he warned them. `You should refer only to
instructions you receive from me in writing.' Concurrently, other Palestinian
leaders once again acknowledged that they wer still committed to the Phased
Plan and that their ultimate objective was the destruction of Israel. `The goal
of the current Intifada is a Palestinian state,' Barghouti flatly told the New
Yorker, `but afterwards, there will be even greater things for which to strive.
There is no room for more than one state between the Jordan River and the
Mediterranean." (Bodansky)
Continued:
POINTER:
http://pnews.org/ArT/Xray/ARabS.shtml
