Following is the statement issued by the National and Islamic Forces on August 4, 2001; signatories are: Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fateh); Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP); Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas); Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP); Palestinian People’s Party (PPP); Palestinian Democratic Union (FIDA); Palestinian Popular Struggle Front; Palestinian Liberation Front; Islamic Jihad Movement; Arab Liberation Front; Palestinian Arab Front; Popular Front—General Command; Islamic National Salvation Party; and Popular Liberation War Pioneers (Sa’iqa):

Our great Palestinian masses
Our glorious Arab and Islamic free masses
Our heroes of the Intifada and resistance
 

The barbaric escalation of the Sharonian aggression confirms the continuation of the policy that aims to execute the scheme of liquidation that targets the Palestinian people and their national authority. This scheme gets its full support from the US administration, especially from US Vice President Cheney, who did not hide his fascist justification to the atrocious crime that targeted the leaders and Mujahidin Jamal Salim and Jamal Mansour, in addition to the cadres Omar Mansour, Fahim Dawabsheh and journalists Mohammed Bishawi and Othman Qatnani and children Bilal and Ashraf Abu Khadra. This condemned US position expressed and reflects the reality of the absence of US conscience, which is arming the government of Sharon with all means of brutal force, financial and moral support so that it can execute its racist crimes at the time when Sharon himself is being tried internationally as a war criminal.

The attempts of the racist government of Sharon which aims to break the will of the Palestinian people through assassinations, siege and crimes against the holy sites, especially the Aqsa Mosque and the attempts to try and divide the Aqsa Mosque in preparation for demolishing to build the alleged temple have failed and will fail on the rock of steadfastness of the Palestinian people who stood firm with pride in face of the Zionist war machine; the Palestinian people, through their heroism and sacrifices, frustrated the racist attempts of Zionists to lay the cornerstone of the alleged temple and stressed on the Arab and Islamic nature of blessed Jerusalem.

The Arab and Islamic popular position, as expressed in the marches that protested against harming the holy sites and against the assassination crimes, was a proof on the liveliness of the Arab and Islamic nation and their firm clinging to the rights of the Palestinian people; this matter requires appreciation by the Palestinian masses and their national and Islamic forces.

At the same time, our people feel bitter regarding the Arab official silence and weakness that refrains from collective condemnation to the aggression and work to deter it through a unified position to be taken in an urgent Arab summit that is required at this phase. Such a summit can affirm the decisions taken in the previous summits and stress on the implementation of these decisions away from stalling and away from blaming the Arab follow up committee and to use the Arab potentials and relations towards exerting pressure on the US administration which is taking a totally biased position in support to the Zionist entity.

The smell of US pressure on some regimes started to spread since these regimes refrain from calling for an urgent summit. The US, which plans to contain the Intifada and resistance in Palestine and the heroic steadfastness of the Iraqi people, considers such a summit as an action that will frustrate its aggressive schemes against the Arab nation and the Palestinian people.

The National and Islamic Forces affirm on their rejection to the Arab official position and demand the implementation of the Arab summit decisions and the moves of the follow up committee towards isolating the racist government of Sharon and sever all ties with it and resist all kinds of normalization through which the Zionist entity is breathing now. The National and Islamic forces call on the Arab regimes to release the potentials of the masses and not suppress them through preventing them from expressing their support and solidarity with the Palestinian people and their heroic Intifada.

The National and Islamic Forces call on all leaders, cadres, and activists of the Intifada to be cautious because the Zionist scheme wants to assault our will and determination, using high tech equipment in monitoring and surveillance and assassination. The enemy tries to employ some collaborators in their dirty jobs. The enemy also tries to unveil details of some of these collaborators in order to magnify this phenomenon through some satellite channels, which fall in the trap of the Zionist psychological war. The National and Islamic Forces call on the PNA to strike with an iron fist at the hands of these collaborators who are involved in the criminal operations and to work on finding them and dismantle their networks before they are used. Preventive measures must be taken to clean the society from this dangerous evil. The Forces call on citizens, forces, and popular institutions to cooperate with the PNA apparatuses to discover those collaborators and bring them to trial. We stress on our total and strong rejection to the fact that some people are taking the law into their own hands. This phenomenon coincides with the phenomenon of opening fire into the air during marches, which prevents the popular participation. This matter should be dealt with in order to maintain all potentials and ammunition for the future confrontation with the racist government of Sharon.
 
The National and Islamic Forces call on the Palestinian masses and the masses of the Arab and Islamic nation to participate in the following activities:

1- Wednesday, August 8, 2001: A day to honor the children martyrs and to protect the children of Palestine through marches in which photos of martyrs should be carried and to express solidarity with the families of the martyrs.

2- Friday, August 10, 2001: A day of Arab, Islamic, Palestinian popular rage against the US and against its total bias and support to the Sharonian Zionist aggression against our people and against our holy sites to be expressed in marches and festivals in all districts, taking into consideration the special conditions of each district. The National and Islamic Forces call on the Arab and Islamic institutions to participate according to their conditions.

The National and Islamic Forces call for early preparation for the anniversary of the Zionist aggression that burnt the Aqsa Mosque, to coincide on August 21, 2001, and consider it as day to protect the holy sites at the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic levels.

Long live the blessed Intifada
Glory and eternity for our martyrs
Fast recovery to the injured and freedom for our heroic prisoners
It is an Intifada until victory