MEMRI publishes excerpts from an interview in the Jordanian newspaper “Al-Rai” on September 27, 2004 with former PA Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen):
Abbas: … I think now that that the Intifada in its entirety was a mistake and it should not have continued, and in particular what is called “the militarization of the Intifada” . . .
Question: . . . [W]hy do you think that the Intifada was the worst option?
Abbas: If we were to sum up where we have ended up after four years of the Intifada, there are three opinions: the first opinion is that after the killing of 1,000 Israelis in the Intifada, Israel would collapse, as would Sharon; the second opinion is that the armed Intifada would liberate the homeland; the third opinion is that the Intifada would bring the settlements to a halt.
An examination [of the matter] shows that Sharon did not fall. On the contrary, he has become the most popular [leader] in the history of Israel . . . [A]ll of the Palestinian lands are now occupied and vulnerable, and the settlements have nearly doubled.
We damaged our relations with the Americans and with Israeli public opinion; the latest statement from the Quartet is an additional indication of what has become of us.
Question: You alluded to a fourth opinion concerning the Intifada — what is it?
Abbas: The fourth opinion says: stop the “militarization” of the Intifada. Let us fulfill our obligations as they appear in the Road Map . . .
The Road Map, issued April 30, 2003, required as step one that the Palestinians declare:
“an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism and undertake visible efforts on the ground to arrest, disrupt, and restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere.”
Abu Mazen’s interview comes more than a year after his resignation. In his resignation speech on September 6, 2003, he told the Palestinian Legislative Council that “although the roadmap, which we accepted, it says that the terrorist factions must be struck and uprooted,” this would have been a “tragedy” and he “overcame” it in order to maintain “unity” with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
From within the tiger, a voice is heard: we made a “mistake.”