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MidEastTruth - Selected Quotes 

"If somebody were sending rockets into my house, where my two daughters sleep, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop it. And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing."

- US Senator Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate, during his trip to the Middle East, July 24, 2008


"And I am especially pleased - as the first British Prime Minister to address the Knesset - to congratulate you at this sixtieth anniversary on the achievement of 1948: the centuries of exile ended, the age-long dream realised, the ancient promise redeemed - the promise that even amidst suffering, you will find your way home to the fields and shorelines where your ancestors walked."

- Speech by the Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the Knesset , Jerusalem, Israel, July 22, 2008 (full speech)


"We face with the Iranians, and so do our allies and friends, a growing missile threat that is growing ever longer and ever deeper and where the Iranian appetite for nuclear technology to this point is still unchecked."

- US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, July 9, 2008


“If you were living in Israel, you’d be a little nervous, if a leader in your neighborhood announced that he’d like to destroy you. And one sure way of achieving that means, is through the development of a nuclear weapon. Therefore, now is the time for all of us to work together to stop Iran,”

- US President George W. Bush, June 10, 2008


"To allow the world's leading sponsor of terror to gain the world's deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations. For the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon."

- US President George W. Bush, May 18, 2008


"I have always been and will always be a friend of Israel . . . Anyone trying to destroy Israel will find France blocking the way . . . the Iranian crisis is the largest in the world. Israel is not alone in this crisis. France will always stand beside you and assist you when needed."

- French President Nicolas Sarkozy, June 23, 2008


"The establishment of Israel "the miracle of the 20th century."

- French President Nicolas Sarkozy, October 2007


"All the decades of deceit and cruelty have now reached an end. Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict commenced at a time of our choosing. For their own safety, all foreign nationals, including journalists and inspectors, should leave Iraq immediately. Many Iraqis can hear me to night in a translated radio broad cast, and I have a message for them: If we must begin a military campaign, it will be directed against the lawless men who rule your country and not against you... America tried to work with the United Nations to address this threat because we wanted to resolve the issue peacefully. We believe in the mission of the United Nations. One reason the U.N. was founded after the Second World War was to confront aggressive dictators actively and early, before they can attack the innocent and destroy the peace... This is not a question of authority, it is a question of will... The United Nations Security Council has not lived up to its responsibilities, so we will rise to ours."

- US President George W. Bush, March 17, 2003 (full transcript)



"The games he (Saddam Hussein) has been playing are over. It's time to stop him"

- US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, March 9, 2003


"Saddam Hussein has a long history of reckless aggression and terrible crimes. He possess weapons of terror. He provides funding and training and safe haven to terrorists, terrorists who would willing use weapons of mass destruction against America and other peace-loving countries. Saddam Hussein and his weapons are a direct threat to this country, to our people and to all free people. If the world fails to confront the threat posed by the Iraqi regime, refusing to use force even as a last resort, free nations would assume the unacceptable risks. The attacks of September the 11th, 2001, show what the enemies of America did with four airplanes. We will not wait to see what terrorists or terrorist states could do with weapons of mass destruction. We are determined to confront threats wherever they arise. I will not leave the American people at the mercy of the Iraqi dictator and his weapons... I want the United Nations to be effective. It's important for it to be a robust, capable body. It's important for its words to mean what they say. And as we head into the 21st century. I'm confident the American people understand that when it comes to our security, if we need to act, we will act, and we really don't need the United Nations' approval to do so. When it comes to our security, we really don't need anybody's permission."

- US President George W. Bush, March 6, 2003

"It's a moment for this body (The UN)... to determine whether or not it's going to be relevant as the world confronts threats in the 21st century. Is it going to be a body that means what it says? We certainly hope so."

- US President George W. Bush, February 23, 2003


"Different threats require different strategies. In Iran, we continue to see a government that represses its people, pursues weapons of mass destruction and supports terror. We also see Iranian citizens risking intimidation and death as they speak out for liberty and human rights and democracy. Iranians, like all people, have a right to choose their own government and determine their own destiny and the United States supports their aspirations to live in freedom... The dictator of Iraq is not disarming. To the contrary, he is deceiving... Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al-Qaida. Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own. Before September 11, many in the world believed that Saddam Hussein could be contained. But chemical agents and lethal viruses and shadowy terrorist networks are not easily contained. Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other plans -- this time armed by Saddam. It would take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known. We will do everything in our power to make sure that that day never comes. Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy and it is not an option. This dictator who is assembling the world's most dangerous weapons has already used them on whole villages, leaving thousands of his own citizens dead, blind or disfigured. Iraqi refugees tell us how forced confessions are obtained by torturing children while their parents are made to watch. International human rights groups have catalogued other methods used in the torture chambers of Iraq: electric shock, burning with hot irons, dripping acid on the skin, mutilation with electric drills, cutting out tongues and rape. If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning. And tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq: Your enemy is not surrounding your country. Your enemy is ruling your country. And the day he and his regime are removed from power will be the day of your liberation."


- US President George W. Bush's State of the Union address, January 28, 2003

"We are where we are today with Iraq because Saddam Hussein and his regime have repeatedly violated the trust of the United Nations, his people and his neighbors, to such an extent as to pose a grave danger to international peace and security... it is not a matter of time, it is a matter of telling the truth... We will have to take that next step, and history will judge us as to whether or not we have the strength, the fortitude and the willingness to take that next step."

- US Secretary of State Colin Powell, January 26, 2003



"To the European side, I said, Your attitude towards Israel and the Arabs and the Palestinians should be balanced. When it will be balanced, you are most welcome to participate. But at this moment, the relations are unbalanced."

- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, January 19, 2003



"President Bush said that leaders compromised by terror cannot be partners for peace. Legitimizing the sham reform efforts of Arafat's regime will, in effect, legitimize a Palestinian leadership compromised by terror. Not only has the PA failed to fight terrorism, Arafat's own Fatah and Tanzim forces proudly took credit for yesterday's savage attack, and for many other atrocities over the last two years."

- Israeli Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, January 6, 2003



"The passengers aboard the bus yesterday had the basic human right to live and not be burned to death, and this was violated in the most shocking and horrific way. No one in Europe has ever experienced suicide attacks... If you want to rebuild homes of terrorists that we destroyed, why not repair blown up buses and bring people back to life?"

- Israel Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, The European Parliament, October 22, 2002


"The use of arms did not give us any credit. The Palestinians now have to think very carefully about the next phase. I'm not saying the struggle against the occupation should not continue, but it has to be a peaceful one, with the help of our friends all over the world... We have 80 percent unemployment in the Bethlehem area and the city is paralyzed from an economic point of view."


- Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Nasser (The Jerusalem Post, August 21, 2002)


"Think of the prelude to World War Two. Think of all the countries that said, well, we don’t have enough evidence. I mean, Mein Kampf had been written. Hitler had indicated what he intended to do. The people who argued for waiting for more evidence have to ask themselves how they are going to feel at that point where another event occurs."

- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (London Telegraph, August 21, 2002)


"If you have a country that's a sliver and you can see three sides of it from a high hotel building, you've got to be careful what you give away and to whom you give it. If you're giving it to an entity that has some track record, that has a degree of accountability, that has the ability to enforce security that's promised in whatever arrangements are made, it seems to me that's one thing. If you're making a deal and yielding territory to an entity that cannot or will not do that -- and there is no question but that the Palestinian Authority have been involved with terrorist activities, so that makes it a difficult interlocutor.
My feeling about the so-called occupied territories are that there was a war, Israel urged neighboring countries not to get involved in it once it started, they all jumped in, and they lost a lost of real estate to Israel because Israel prevailed in that conflict. In the intervening period, they've made some settlements in various parts of the so-called occupied area, which was the result of a war, which they won.
They have offered up -- successive prime ministers have offered up various portions of that so-called occupied territory, the West Bank, and at no point has it been agreed upon by the other side. I suspect it will be, even in my lifetime, that there will be some sort of an entity that will be established. Maybe it will take some Palestinian expatriates coming back into the region and providing the kind of responsible government that would give confidence that you could make an arrangement with them that would stick. It may be that the neighboring countries, Egypt and Jordan and Saudi Arabia and others, will have to assist in providing a degree of accountability."

- U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, August 6, 2002 (full transcript)


"Israel is the only outpost of freedom and democracy in the Middle East and the only absolutely reliable friend of the United States"

- Former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani, August 5, 2002



"If you talk to people who use anti-Semitic clichés without knowing what they are doing, they are shocked that somebody would think they were anti-Semitic. But it's everywhere. It's in print. It's dinner party conversations. When a dozen Israeli kids are killed because somebody throws a bomb in order to kill Israeli kids, then it's regrettable. If Israel kills a dozen kids as collateral damage when they try to kill a murderer who hides among children, then this is a war crime."

Oscar Bronner - publisher and editor of Der Standard, a major Austrian daily newspaper, August, 2002


"I'm just as angry as Israel is right now. I'm furious that innocent life was lost. However through my fury, even though I am mad, I still believe peace is possible... We are committed to the war on terror, to fighting the war on terror, to winning the war on terror."

- US President George W. Bush mourned the deaths of five Americans in a Jerusalem bombing, August 1, 2002



"The Israelis know that if the Iraqi or the Iranian army came across the Jordan River, I would personally grab a rifle, get in a ditch, and fight and die."

- Former US President Bill Clinton, July 31, 2002



"I worked for 18 months to try to put in place a plan that would allow Chairman Arafat to demonstrate his leadership. We would have been way along if the violence had been brought down. Chairman Arafat simply did not seize any of these opportunities to bring the violence under control. Moreover, after the Israelis pulled back from the recent occupation ... we thought maybe we have some movement. What we saw instead were more bombing. Bombing after bombing after bombing after bombing, day after day. Frankly, we also saw continuing indications that there was complicity with the senior levels in the Palestinian Authority."

- US Secretary of State Colin Powell, CBS' "Face the Nation", June 30, 2002


"We believe that the leadership he (Arafat) has provided to the Palestinian people has been inadequate, and we believe he is compromised. That's why the president strongly has advocated new leadership coming into the Palestinian government... Every time we got something going, the terror came back. And Chairman Arafat was not doing enough to end the terror, either through the power of his voice, his position within the Palestinian community, or the use of the institutions that were available to him... We hope that Palestinian leaders will be able to work with us. Not Chairman Arafat. I don't see that as a possibility."

- US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Fox News Sunday, June 30, 2002 (full transcript)


"Arafat is somebody who failed his people and failed to lead when he had a chance—not just with this administration. Clearly the Clinton administration gave him a terrific opportunity to lead. Ehud Barak, the former prime minister of Israel, gave him a terrific opportunity to lead. We know now that the Israeli leadership and the Israeli people, apparently, a Democratic Israel, was prepared to give up perhaps 97 percent of the land. They were prepared to make arrangements on Jerusalem. They were prepared to make arrangements for right of return of Palestinian refugees. And what did they get in return? Arafat started the second Intifadah instead and rejected that offered hand of friendship. Eventually you have to say that the problem is with this leadership and, again, we believe in free elections. We believe in the democratic process. We believe that institutions, which constrain the power of one person, can make a difference to the lives of the Palestinian people. But this president believes firmly that until there is a change, a change that we are prepared to help actively bring about through international assistance, until there is that change, we’re not going to be able to make progress on peace... We have said that the fact of the matter is, that if you have this leadership that you have now, that you’re not going to make progress on peace because they have demonstrated no desire to do so."

- US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, MBC's "Meet The Press", June 30, 2002 (full transcript)


"I think the president has given up hope that Yasser Arafat can be the one to implement reform."

- US presidential press secretary Ari Fleischer, June 26, 2002



"I meant what I said, that there needs to be change. If people are interested in peace something else has got to happen. We are now mired in a situation now where there is terror on the one hand and hopelessness on the other and that is unacceptable... Listen, I can assure you we won't be putting money into a society which is not transparent, and corrupt. And I suspect other countries won't either."

- US President George W. Bush, June 26, 2002


"It is for the Palestinians to elect the people they choose to elect. But if we are going to make progress we need people we can negotiate with, who are serious about negotiating around the issues of security and political reform necessary for the peace process to work."

- British PM Tony Blair, June 26, 2002


"Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership. I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror... Today, the Palestinian people live in economic stagnation, made worse by official corruption. A Palestinian state will require a vibrant economy, where honest enterprise is encouraged by honest government... Today, Palestinian authorities are encouraging, not opposing, terrorism. This is unacceptable. And the United States will not support the establishment of a Palestinian state until its leaders engage in a sustained fight against the terrorists and dismantle their infrastructure."

- US President George Bush, June 24, 2002



"It's hard to get people to focus on peace today when there's still suffering from the consequences of terrorism as we speak."

- US presidential press secretary Ari Fleischer, June 19, 2002


"Frankly, the Palestinian Authority, which is corrupt and cavorts with terror...is not the basis for a Palestinian state moving forward."

- National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Mercury News, June 15, 2002



"Well, we should keep in mind, he's (Saeb Erekat) the man who wrongly told the world that there had been a massacre at Jericho, wrongly told the world that the Church of the Nativity in -- it was being torched by Israelis. So I take what he says with a great grain of salt."

- CNN's 'Crossfire' host Paul Begala, June 5, 2002



"In the president's eyes, Yasser Arafat has never played a role of someone who can be trusted or who was effective."

- US presidential press secretary Ari Fleischer, June 5, 2002



"He's had [Arafat] a chance to lead. He had a chance to get a peace agreement with my predecessor. He's had chance after chance. And by failing to lead, he has really let the Palestinians down. I say that with a lot of angst in my heart, because I am concerned about the plight of the Palestinian citizenry, poor and isolated and frustrated. Somebody said, has he earned your respect? I said, he never had my respect, because ... he let his people down. The role of a leader is to lead."

- US President George Bush, May 21, 2002


"There have in the past been bombings by elements of the Palestinian organizations that come under his (Arafat) control, and there he clearly has the capacity to act."

- US Vice President Dick Cheney, May 19, 2002



"Showing solidarity with Israel today is showing solidarity with America's war on terrorism."

- U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D), NY, May 5, 2002


"Between last year's parade and this year's parade, we had the terrible tragedy of 9-11, and if New Yorkers don't stand up today, I don't know when you would...
It is terribly important that New York send a message that we are behind Israel and against terrorism. Terrorists will not beat us."

- NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg, May 5, 2002


"The bond between America and Israel is not just a strategic one, though that is important. Today, in the war against terror, we have no stronger ally than Israel. The more profound tie between our two countries, however, is a moral one. We are two democracies whose alliance is forged in our common values. To be proudly pro-American and pro-Israeli is not to hold conflicting loyalties. As Scoop understood, it is about defending the principles that both countries hold dear.
And I stand before you today, proudly pro-American and pro-Israel."


- Senator John McCain, The Wall Street Journal, April 26, 2002 (More)



"I do believe Ariel Sharon is a man of peace. I think he wants -- I'm confident he wants Israel to be able to exist at peace with its neighbor -- with its neighbors... In Ramallah, there is an issue with the Zeevi five killers. They're housed in the basement where Colin visited with Mr. Arafat. And we will work with the Israelis to figure out a solution to the Zeevi five. These people are accused of killing a Cabinet official of the Israeli government. And I can understand why the Prime Minister wants them brought to justice. They should be brought to justice if they killed this man in cold blood."

- US President George Bush, April 18, 2002 (full transcript)



"In my meetings with Chairman Arafat, I made it clear that he and the Palestinian Authority could no longer equivocate. They must decide, as the rest of the world has decided, that terrorism must end."

- US Secretary of State Colin Powell, April 17, 2002



"The PLO engages in state-sponsored terrorism, and there is no question about it."

- NY Governor George Pataki, April 11, 2002



"Our dead lie in a long row: women and children, young and old. And we stand facing them, facing the vacuum created by their murders, and we are speechless... And there is one dispatcher: Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. He is the man who, in a series of agreements, promised to abandon the path of terrorism, refrain from committing murder, use his forces to prevent it - and betrayed all his promises."

- Israeli Prime Minster Ariel Sharon, April 8, 20002 (full transcript)


"The chairman of the Palestinian Authority has not consistently opposed or confronted terrorists. At Oslo and elsewhere, Chairman [Yasser] Arafat renounced terror as an instrument of his cause, and he agreed to control it. He's not done so. The situation in which he finds himself today is largely of his own making. He's missed his opportunities and thereby betrayed the hopes of the people he's supposed to lead... I call on the Palestinian Authority and all governments in the region to do everything in their power to stop terrorist activities, to disrupt terrorist financing and to stop inciting violence by glorifying terror in state-owned media or telling suicide bombers they are martyrs. They're not martyrs. They're murderers. And they undermine the cause of the Palestinian people."

- US President George Bush, April 4, 2002 (full transcript)



"I fully understand Israel's need to defend herself; I respect that. It's a country that has seen a wave of suicide bombers coming to the heart of their cities and killing innocent people. And that country has a right to defend herself. As she does so."

- US President George Bush, March 29, 2002



"I was delighted to have the opportunity to reaffirm the strength of America's commitment to the security and well-being of our friends in Israel.

"The prime minister and I have discussed a wide range of issues including our cooperation in the war against global terror and our shared concern about the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

"We have also discussed ways of ending the terror and the violence that have brought so much suffering to the people of this region.
...
"I would expect the 100 percent effort (by Arafat) to begin immediately."

- US Vice President Dick Cheney, Jerusalem, March 19, 2002



"Ladies and gentlemen, Canada has rejoiced at the triumphs of Israel. We shared the incredible hope that accompanied the visit of Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem. Like the world, we were heartened over the past decade as a just and lasting peace seemed to come close.

But since then and all too often, we have shared the sorrow of Israel as the promise of peace has receded and as terror has been unleashed on her people. We continue to express our horror and outrage at the mounting toll of innocent lives. Too many Israelis and too many Palestinians are dying. Too many families are suffering.

There is nothing in our experience that can capture the fear that Israelis now live with every hour of every day, where allowing your children to go to a pizza parlour or a disco or just to play in the park can be a choice between life and death.

Let me reaffirm tonight that there is no justification whatsoever for acts of terror against innocent civilians. Canada condemns without equivocation the use of violence for political objectives by any state or group. Moreover, we have called on Yasser Arafat as leader of the Palestinian Authority to live up to his responsibilities. And to take strong and effective action against extremist groups who continue to use the territory under his authority for safe harbour."

- Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrétien, March 6, 2002



"Wherever terrorism strikes, that's ground zero."
...
"Those who protect, and give safe harbor to terrorism must be held responsible. Yasser Arafat bears the responsibility for the violence that has occurred, it rests on his shoulders, even today he could do more to end the terrorism."
...
"(The Sbarro pizzeria where 15 people were killed in a suicide bombing last August) is open here and ready for business and the people of Jerusalem and Israel are going about their daily lives despite the threat of terrorism. It is a great lesson to New York and America."
...
"If before September 11 I had a sense of commitment to Israel's future and security, that commitment became ever more personal and profound after the 11th of September."
...
"The facts are that Arafat stands responsible and should be held accountable for the terrorism taking place under his watch."
...
"(Arafat is) unwilling and unable to be a peace partner. We do not have a partner on the other side for that type of long-term negotiated settlement."


- U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, February 24, 2002


"The responsibility for the violence since the collapse of the Camp David discussions rests squarely on (Arafat's) shoulders."
...
" (Arafat) has failed as a leader and his inability or unwillingness to rein in forces of violence and terrorism demonstrates he is not ready or willing to be a leader."
...
"It is imperative that Yasser Arafat recognize that his willingness not only to tolerate but to use violence cannot succeed."

- U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, February 23, 2002



"You cannot negotiate with terrorists because the single response of terrorists for fulfilling their demands is blackmail - new demands, nothing more. This was our experience with the regime of Adolph Hitler"
...
"(Israel) cannot negotiate with people who kill civilians for political purposes."
...
"Any political leader who tolerates political terrorism as a legitimate tool for his political campaign - is a terrorist.
You know the English expression - if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, tastes like a duck - then it is a duck."

- Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman, February 17, 2002


"A terrorist underworld -- including groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Jaish-i-Mohammed -- operates in remote jungles and deserts, and hides in the centers of large cities"
...
"Iran aggressively pursues these weapons (weapons of mass destruction) and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom."
...
"Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror.  The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade.  This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens -- leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children.  This is a regime that agreed to international inspections -- then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world.

States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.  By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger.  They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred.  They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States.  In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic."

- U.S. President George Bush, State of the Union Address, January 29, 2002



“If anybody harbors a terrorist, they’re a terrorist. If they fund a terrorist, they’re a terrorist. If they house terrorists, they’re terrorists. I mean, I can’t make it any more clear to other nations around the world."

- U.S. President George Bush, November 26 2001


"In the 1930s, Hitler told us what he was going to do and we ignored it for years and years and years. In the 1990s, the terrorists told us what they were going to do and we ignored it. We glorified Yasser Arafat when he was training terrorists in Palestine. We allowed Saddam Hussein to build weapons of mass destruction as we removed inspectors. And we ignored — I can't say the handwriting on the wall — but maybe the handwriting just in the desk drawer that just needed to be opened. And we should never do that again."

- Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, January 26, 2002


"I know where he (Arafat) acquired the weapons. He did acquire the weapons from Iran. The really disturbing part of this, of course, is that there are a lot of places he could go in the Arab world if he were looking for support and sustenance or for help in moving the peace process forward. Clearly, he hasn't done that. What he's done is gone to a terrorist organization, Hezbollah, and a state that supports and promotes terrorism, that's dedicated to ending the peace process, Iran, and done business with them."

- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, FOX News, January 27, 2002


"If Arafat wants to commit suicide, then we won't stand in his way"

- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, December 2001


"We're asking no more of Chairman Arafat than we've asked of every responsible leader, and that is not to allow terrorism to continue in areas that you control."

- U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Face The Nation, CBS, December 16, 2001


 

"All of that was blown up by these terrorist organizations on the Palestinian side, The failure is not Gen. Zinni's, it's not the United States government. The failure is with the parties in the region, especially, I have to say, on the part of the Palestinians for not getting the violence under control."

- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Meet The Press, NBC, December 16, 2001
For a complete transcript, click here


"The president said what he has repeatedly said publicly — that Chairman Arafat has to show leadership. There are people on both sides in the Middle East who want peace and others who seek to obstruct peace, and Chairman Arafat needs to show to the world what side he is on."

- White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, December 13, 2001



"The situation has become more serious with these attacks against the Israeli population. I understand very well Israel's decision to try to protect itself. Mr. Arafat must immediately take the necessary steps to control the terrorists, the people who are capable of blocking the peace process."

- Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs John Manley, December 13, 2001


"Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority must move immediately to arrest those responsible for these attacks and to destroy the infrastructure of the terror organizations that support them. Coexistence with these organizations or acquiescence in their activities is simply not acceptable. Palestinians must act against these groups and they must act now."

- US envoy Anthony Zinni, December 12, 2001


"Palestinian people ought to be asking their leaders, 'Where does this take us?' and the answer is, 'Nowhere.'"

- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, December 9, 2001


"The fact of the matter is, until Arafat demonstrates that he’s serious about controlling suicide attackers from Palestinian territory against the Israelis, there’s not going to be any progress.
...
"Obviously, the Palestinian people are responsible for deciding who’s going to be their leader and who represents them. But Hamas, the terrorist organization-the president took steps this week to clamp down on their funding and financing-has taken credit for having killed 25 Israeli civilians and wounded over 200 more in the past. It’s not surprising, given that level of violence and those repeated attacks, that the Israelis take steps to defend themselves. They have every right to do so."

- Vice President Dick Cheney, Meet The Press, NBC, December 9, 2001
For a complete transcript, click here


"Arafat is not a particularly strong leader,and I don't know that he has good control over the Palestinian situation."
...
"He has not ever delivered anything for the Palestinian people throughout history. His record is not particularly impressive."

- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, NBC's "Meet the Press", December 2, 2001


"What Israel is doing is retaliating against acts of violence intended to kill Israeli civilians. We are doing exactly the same thing, the difference is the Israelis don't criticize us when we do it, and we have a history of criticizing them.
...
Now there isn't going to be a settlement under Yasser Arafat. He should go. He can no longer bring peace to the region, if he ever could, he's either unable or unwilling to control his own territory. And either way it's time for Arafat to go."

- Richard Perle, former assistant defense secretary, Chairman, Pentagon Defense Policy Board, CNN, The War Room, December 3, 2001
For a complete transcript, click here

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