"On the Palestinian question, Israeli military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Malka said that Yasser Arafat’s speech Sunday was for foreign consumption. “The number of terrorist attacks in preparation at this very moment is unprecedented, yet Arafat does not raise a finger to prevent them - although they are all linked and coordinated with Palestinian Authority bodies and personnel”.

In Ramallah, two days after telling the world that he had ordered a halt to Palestinian armed violence - including suicide bombings - Arafat confided to a small group of Palestinians: 'I would sacrifice 70 martyrs to kill a single Israeli,' adding: 'It was a conspiracy that brought the Jews to Palestine. It is our holy land and we will continue to fight for it.'

He will have no argument from the Hamas, the Jihad Islami, the Tanzim and the Popular Fronts, all of whom announced they had no intention of halting their attacks. According to official Israeli figures, Palestinians carried out a total of 2,790 terrorist strikes against Israelis in the year 2001, most of them committed by Arafat’s Fatah-Tanzim. There were 27 suicide assaults during the outgoing year."