May 10, 1994 Jihad

Yasser Arafat’s Speech at Johannesburg About Oslo Accords

Below are excerpts from a speech given by PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat on May 10, 1994, in a mosque in Johannesburg, South Africa. The text was transcribed directly from a tape recording of Arafat’s address.

Arafat: Jihad to Liberate Jerusalem

The Jihad [Islamic holy war] will continue, and Jerusalem is not [only] for the Palestinian people, it is for all the Muslim nation.

You are responsible for Palestine and for Jerusalem before me [applause], the land which had been blessed for the whole world.

Now after this agreement you have to understand our main battle.

Our main battle is Jerusalem. Jerusalem. The first shrine of the Moslems.

THIS HAS TO BE UNDERSTOOD FOR EVERYBODY AND FOR THIS I WAS INSISTING BEFORE SIGNING TO HAVE A LETTER FROM THEM, THE ISRAELIS, THAT JERUSALEM IS ONE OF THE ITEMS WHICH HAS TO BE UNDER DISCUSSION AND NOT THE STATE, THE PERMANENT STATE OF ISRAEL! NO! IT IS THE PERMANENT STATE OF PALESTINE [APPLAUSE]. YES, IT IS THE PERMANENT STATE OF PALESTINE.

What they are saying is the [Jerusalem] is their capital. No, it is not their capital. It is our capital. It is the first shrine of the Islam and the Moslems.

This agreement, I am not considering it more than the agreement which had been signed between our prophet Mohammed and Koraish, and you remember the Caliph Omar had refused this agreement and [considered] it a despicable truce.

But Mohammed had accepted it and we are accepting now this peace offer. But to continue our way to Jerusalem, to the first shrine together and not alone.

We are in need of you as Moslems, as warriors of Jihad [in Arabic, Mujaheddin].

Source: http://www.iris.org.il/quotes/joburg.htm