By Nabil Al Mulhem
Albawaba.com - Damascus
Leader of the Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, Ahmad Jibril, has voiced his dissatisfaction with the outcome of the Cairo emergency Arab Summit that concluded on Sunday, calling for the mobilization of the billion Arabs and Muslims for Jihad against Israel.
At a press conference held at the Syrian Red Crescent Hospital in Damascus on Monday, Jibril said,” we are dissatisfied with the results of the summit, because it did not handle the issue directly and bravely.”
He added that the Palestinian people are fighting an imbalanced war against Israel and the USA; the latter was wooed by Arab leaders in their speeches at the summit.
“Had the United States felt its interests [in the region] were jeopardized, I t would have never dared to support the Zionist entity,” he stressed.
“We were surprised that no message was sent to the US…if our leaders were real men who can take [decisive] decisions, the US would be forced to implement the international legitimacy resolutions,” he said.
However, Jibril said the decision by the summit to set up funds to support the Palestinians was a positive one “only if the money is spent on the Intifada and the people, not on corrupt persons.”
Asked if the chances for a peace settlement between the Palestinians and Israel are higher after the summit, the opposition Palestinian leader said that the Palestinian National Authority is no longer the sole player and cannot manipulate the Intifada, due to many factors.
“First, the Intifada is so powerful in the occupied lands, and for the first time, it extended to the 1948 Palestine. Third, it has gained Arab and Islamic momentum,” he explained.
According to Jibril, the stands taken by Palestinian opposition factions have proved to be correct in light of the recent developments.
He ruled out that there is rift inside the mainstream Fateh movement, with an alleged emergence of a new trend led by Marwan Barghouthi, the Fateh secretary and a military leader who has adopted a hard-line position calling for the escalation of the Intifada.
“It is a game within a game, and it [the rift] is a propaganda scenario,” he charged.
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
