Daily Alert Archives

Former Terrorist Leader: Palestinians "Marching Toward Total Ruin"

[Ha'aretz] Avi Issacharoff - Zakariya Zubeidi, until not long ago the commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in Jenin, is no longer hiding from the Israel Defense Forces. In an interview he said, "We've shut down the Al-Aqsa Brigades...in part because of the conflict between Fatah and Hamas. Look, it's perfectly clear to me that we won't be able to defeat Israel." "Back in [Arafat's] day we had a plan, there was a strategy, and we would carry his orders....Everything that was done in the intifada was done according to Arafat's instructions." "We failed entirely in the intifada. We haven't seen any benefit or positive result from it. We achieved nothing. It's a crushing failure. We failed at the political level - we didn't succeed in translating the military actions into political achievements. The current leadership does not want armed actions....When [Arafat] died, the armed intifada died with him." "I got tired. When you lose, what can you do? We, the activists, paid the heavy price. We've had family members killed, friends. They demolished our homes and we have no way of earning a living. And what is the result? Zero. Simply zero. And when that's the result, you don't want to be a part of it any more. Lots of other people, as a result of the frustration, and because Fatah doesn't have a military wing any more, have joined the Islamic Jihad."
2008-04-04 01:00:00
Full Article