Senior Fatah official calls for using 'force' against Israeli 'occupation'

Member of the Fatah Central Committee, Tawfik Tirawi, says no need to “run after the mirage of negotiations and peace with criminals.”

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
A Palestinian boy waves a flag in the West Bank (photo credit: REUTERS)
A Palestinian boy waves a flag in the West Bank
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A senior Fatah official on Saturday called for using “force” to end Israeli “occupation.”
Tawfik Tirawi, member of the Fatah Central Committee who previously served as head of the Palestinian Authority General Intelligence Service in the West Bank, said that the use of force was the only way to achieve a solution with Israel.
“There is no solution with Israel without force,” he said. “Force does not necessarily mean shooting, but unity, building, cultivating the land and throwing stones.”
Tirawi said that there was no need to “run after the mirage of negotiations and peace with criminals.”
He added: “There is no Israeli partner who can give the minimum of Palestinian rights. All the concessions that were made came from us and not from the Israeli side, which hasn’t presented anything.”
Tirawi said that the upcoming elections wouldn’t produce a government that wants peace with the Palestinians. He predicted that it would take 20 years to establish a Palestinian state “due to the absence of an Israeli partner.”