Albawaba.com
Damascus
In a statement to Albawaba.com Wednesday, Secretary General of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Nayef Hawatmeh denied as “lies and fabrications,” a report by the French daily Le Figaro quoting him as calling on President Yasser Arafat to "calm his fighters" because Israel would overwhelm them.
"We are against the use of weapons of war ... we are for the continuation of the Intifada by peaceful demonstrations or with stones," Hawatmeh was claimed to have told the rightist paper. The report was also broadcasted by the Israeli radio.
"We have asked Arafat to calm his fighters. Israel's superiority is total: 130 dead on our side and five on theirs," the paper quoted the DFLP chief as saying.
The DFLP is one of two main organizations, which, along with Arafat's Fateh faction, form the PLO.
In the past, the DFLP had denounced the Sharm el-Sheikh accords, called on the Arab summit to end all ties with Israel and "use the oil" card, came out against any meeting between US President Bill Clinton and Arafat, and pledged to continue the uprising in the Palestinian territories.
Earlier Wednesday, the spokesman of the DFLP said in a statement that there are certain paragraphs in the interview attributed to Hawatmeh, that were completely untruthful, including those regarding the role of the Muslim Brotherhood in the foundation of Fateh and their links with the organization.
"However, the roots of Fateh, they are Muslim brothers. When he was a student, Arafat belonged to that brotherhood," Hawatmeh had said, according to the paper.
"The Fateh is a national organization in which certain members are ultra-nationalist and others Islamist," he told Le Figaro.
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
