| Submit your comments on this article |
| Middle East |
| Tewfik: ''You'll never take us alive, coppers!'' |
| 2002-09-25 |
| West Bank intelligence chief Tewfik Tirawi said he and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat will fight till the last minute. Tirawi, besieged with Arafat and whose surrender Israel demands, said the Palestinian leader and he would fight until the end, in an interview published Wednesday, September 25. "Yassergrad will never surrender!" âI have never given up in my life. I donât know what surrender is. "... I'm not too sure how many ounces in a pound. I don't know what the capital of Venezuela is, or whether Esquimeaux really kiss that way. But..." "I have the right and the obligation to defend myself. I intend to fight. Both Yasser Arafat and I will fight until the last minute,â he told the Israeli daily Maâariv. âI look at your tanks, at the snipers, at the whole army, and feel joy. Because I know that these two rooms, in which we are huddled together with president Arafat, are stronger than all this might.â "You and me, together, to the end. Ain't it, Yasser?" "Ummm... They say Bucharest is pretty this time of year..." "Between the two of us, we can take on the whole world, ol' buddy!" "And there's all that money, just waiting in Geneva..." "Danger? We laugh! Haw haw!" "My wife's only 29... Well, maybe 35... And she's hot... And she's got those crotchless underwear... And I'm only 73. I've got a lotta productive years left..." Tirawi has been confined, together with another 250 people, to the last building still standing in Arafatâs Ramallah compound, since it was invaded and razed by the Israeli army on September 19. He is the most senior official on a list of people whose surrender Israel demands before lifting the siege. But Tirawi rejected the Israeli accusations of being directly involved in âterrorist activity.â "Me? A terrorist? You terrorized, Yasser?" "Ngk!" âI challenge you: Show me this information, any proof, about carrying out terror attacks in Israel,â he told Maâariv. âI am a wanted man because I am a patriot. It is a political decision, it is not connected to security.â "Those killings? Y'can't pin nuttin' on me, coppers! All the witnesses are dead, ain't they?" When asked whether he thought Palestinian attacks against Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers were legitimate, Tirawi said: âTry seeing it from my point of view. The army attacked us with great might. They kill us, occupy us, carry out demolitions, shoot at us, murder us, kill our officers and people. You invade Ramallah with tanks. So you want us to stand around and throw flowers at you?â "Yeah, they attacked us, with no provocation! We wuz just standin' around, mindin' our own bidnid, and they come up and start hasslin' us..." In another interview published Tuesday by a Lebanese newspaper, Tirawi said Israel had demanded his surrender because he refuses any alternative to Yasser Arafat. "Mein Fuehrer, right or wrong!" |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |