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Arab/Muslim States

Arab world still seeks Israel?s annihilation


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
November 28, 2004

The results of a recent Middle East-wide public opinion poll suggest the Arab masses continue to seek the annihilation of the Jewish state, despite the contrary assertions of Western and Arab diplomats.

An overwhelming majority of those surveyed by the Al-Arabia network said they would like to see Hamas fill the power void created by the death of Yasser Arafat.

The network pointed out that Hamas advocates the complete destruction of Israel and the establishment of a strict Islamic state in its place.

The results, however, did not stop Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa from claiming Israel’s Arab neighbors sought genuine peaceful coexistence.

He lambasted Jerusalem for not enthusiastically jumping on ostensible peace overtures from Syria.

Terror’s adoring public

More than 113,000 Arab citizens from across the Middle East participated in the Al-Arabia poll shortly after Arafat was officially declared dead.

Seventy-three percent of respondents said they would like to see a Hamas representative assume control over the Palestinian Authority.

Only 0.7 percent believed one of the current PLO leaders would officially replace Arafat.

While conducting the survey, the organizers explained to participants that Hamas and its Palestinian Islamic Jihad allies were seeking the complete destruction of Israel, the Itim news agency reported.

The PLO supposedly relinquished its goal of replacing Israel with Palestine when it signed the “Oslo” peace accords.

Seeking peace?

Despite the Arab street’s overwhelming desire to see Israel eliminated, Moussa claimed Saturday that the Arab world sought genuine peaceful coexistence with the Jewish state.

Moussa ignored the fact the Arab world had tried to exterminate the Jewish state in three full-scale invasions since its rebirth in 1948, or that virulent anti-Israel propaganda still features prominently in media throughout the region.

Israeli caution

The Arab League chief slammed Israel for not returning what he asserted was the Arabs’ desire for peace.

In particular, he took Jerusalem to task for not enthusiastically accepting recent “peace” overtures from Damascus. Israel’s failure to immediately jump in bed with the dictatorial regime of Bashar Assad sent a clear message of its true intentions, Moussa said.

On Wednesday, Assad reportedly told UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen that he was prepared to restart peace negotiations with Israel without prior conditions.

That message was not delivered by Assad himself, but rather conveyed to reporters by Larsen.

An official Assad spokesman said Syria’s “permanent position” was to only restart talks from the point they left off - former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s offer to withdraw from 99 percent of the Golan Heights.

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