Thursday, January 31, 2008
A top congressman blasted the PLO office in Washington for lauding a terrorist leader who died recently.
Afif Safieh, who heads the Palestine Liberation Organization's Washington office, on Monday described George Habash, who headed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as a "great leader" and opened a condolences registry for him.
"I am astonished that the PLO's representative to this country would make such an asinine comment and would actually have the temerity to call on Americans to come to his office and sign a 'register of condolences' for this vicious individual," U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Commitee, said Tuesday in a statement. "How disgusting."
Habash's group pioneered airplane hijackings in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Habash broke with the PLO for negotiating the Oslo peace accords. Although he eventually reconciled with the mainstream Palestinian leadership, he never endorsed negotiations for a two-state solution with Israel...
Remember when Safieh was in Boston being feted by the Muslim American Society and thanking Brit Tzedek v'Shalom for serving as the PLO's 'American Jewish fig leaf'?
See: PLO Thanks Brit Tzedek v'Shalom for Serving as Its 'Fig Leaf'
MAS Watch: Welcoming the PLO to Boston
MAS Watch: More PLO Ambassador...and even more besides
The PLO has never changed, just as the society it's come from has never changed (in fact, it's probably gotten worse since Arafat returned after Oslo), just as its charter has never changed -- fig leaves aside.
Update: The PLO Mission has responded to Lantos. It's a revealing rejoinder that shows that Lantos was being kinder than they deserve. The statement in full is below (emphasis added):
STATEMENT BY THE PLO MISSION IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
On January 28, 2008, The PLO Mission in Washington, D.C. issued a public statement announcing the passing of Dr. George Habash, a prominent Arab and Palestinian leader, who died in Amman, Jordan at the age of 82. In accordance with diplomatic and cultural norms, the PLO Mission offered the diplomatic corps and the Palestinian-
American community the opportunity to visit its offices to express their condolences to the family of the deceased and the Palestinian people by signing a book of condolences. Similar steps were announced in Ramallah where President Abbas declared a three-day period of national morning.
In a gross misinterpretation of this gesture, the office of Representative Tom Lantos issued a statement accusing the PLO Mission and its director of making "asinine comments" and for "having the temerity" of availing a condolence book to the community to express its feelings on this sad occasion. The PLO Mission rejects this unfortunate and insensitive characterization by Mr. Lantos, which is deemed as a direct insult to the Palestinian people as a whole.
As Mr. Lantos is fully aware, honoring the memory of a national leader of the historical magnitude of Dr. George Habash does not constitute an endorsement of every ideological position or method used by Dr. Habash over the past 60 years of political struggle on behalf of the Palestine cause. The whole world knows quite well the considerable differences between Dr. Habash and the PLO leadership throughout this period. These differences, however, do not in any way, shape or form detract from his commitment to the liberty and independence of his people. Dr. Habash was undeniably the second most important figure in the contemporary Palestinian national movement.
The PLO Mission and its staff are not interested in engaging Representative Lantos in semantic debates. However, it is important to state publicly, that Palestinians are quite capable of recognizing their national leaders and honoring their memories. They are quite entitled to write their own history.
PLO Mission
Yes, and we are quite entitled to decide what it means to us about the history of the Palestinian people. Disgusting.
Sadly, the clear and important implications of this statement will go completely unremarked on and unexamined outside a few select circles.
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Lantos Blasts PLO for Honoring Terrorist Habash (Update).
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Afif Safieh's PLO Mission has responded to Tom Lantos with an illuminating public statement. I have added the statement to the end original post below.... Read More
Oops. The man who thanked Brit Tzedek v'Shalom for serving as his 'Fig Leaf', and can generally be relied upon to be a civilized-appearing representative of the PLO who can generally be relied upon not to personally detonate any explosives,... Read More
Well, at least they're honest...
What does that say, then, about the Palestinians?
Exactly.