NPR falsely claims Arafat slowed down the intifada after 9/11 and Israel forced him to restart it

NPR reported ahead of  September 11:

On Sept. 11, 2001, American TV viewers saw scenes of cheering Palestinians, jubilant to see Israel's ally attacked. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had his security services quash the scattered celebrations, and issued a statement.

"We want to send a message to the world: we are not with Al Qaeda and its activities," said Nabil Amr, then Palestinian minister of information, who helped draft the condemnation.

At the time, the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising — with militant bombings and shootings, and attacks by Israeli troops — had been going on for one year. The 9/11 attacks made Arafat worried that Palestinians, who considered themselves freedom fighters, would be seen by the West as terrorists.

"At this stage, I think Yasser Arafat knew very well that the Intifada must stop," said Nasser Jumaa, a former Palestinian combatant leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Jumaa said Arafat's emissaries delivered that message to Palestinian armed groups like his.

Violence decreased, but only for a short while.

"Yasser Arafat ... wanted to distance himself from this axis of evil, and the only way to do it was to stop the Intifada," said retired Israeli Brig. Gen. Shlomo Brom. "But it didn't stop, and not because of Yasser Arafat. Because of the Israeli side. We missed this opportunity."

In January 2002, Israel killed a top West Bank militant, restarting a policy of assassinations. "We couldn't overcome the urge," Brom said.

If this report is true, then we would have seen a significant decrease in Palestinian terror attacks between September 11, 2001 and January 2002.

I count no less than 23 fatal terror attacks aimed specifically at civilians and a few more aimed at soldiers between September 11 and December 31, 2001. Here are just the Fatah attacks:

Sept 20, 2001 - Sarit Amrani, 26, of Nokdim, was killed Thursday morning and her husband Shai was seriously wounded in a shooting attack near Tekoa, south of Bethlehem.

Oct 4, 2001 - Sgt. Tali Ben-Armon, 19, an off-duty woman soldier from Pardesia, Haim Ben-Ezra, 76, of Givat Hamoreh, and Sergei Freidin, 20, of Afula were killed when a Palestinian terrorist, dressed as an Israeli paratrooper, opened fire on Israeli civilians waiting at the central bus station in Afula. 13 other Israelis were wounded in the attack. 

Oct 28, 2001 - St.-Sgt. Yaniv Levy, 22, of Zichron Yaakov was killed by Palestinian terrorists in a drive-by machine-gun ambush near Kibbutz Metzer in northern Israel. 

Nov 2, 2001 - St.-Sgt. Raz Mintz, 19, of Kiryat Motzkin was killed by Palestinian gunmen 5:45 P.M. on Friday at an IDF roadblock at near Ofra, north of Ramallah. The Fatah-affiliated al-Aqsa Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack.

Nov 27, 2001 - Noam Gozovsky, 23, of Moshav Ramat Zvi, and Michal Mor, 25, of Afula were killed when two Palestinian terrorists from the Jenin area opened fire with Kalashnikov assault rifles on a crowd of people near the central bus station in Afula. Police officers and a reserve soldier confronted them, killing the terrorists in the ensuing firefight. Another 50 people were injured, 10 of them moderately to seriously. Fatah and the Islamic Jihad claimed joint responsibility.

Nov 29, 2001 - Inbal Weiss, 22, of Zichron Ya'akov; Yehiav Elshad, 28, of Tel-Aviv; and Samuel Milshevsky, 45, of Kfar Sava were killed and nine wounded in a suicide bombing on an Egged 823 bus en route from Nazereth to Tel Aviv near the city of Hadera. The Islamic Jihad and Fatah claimed responsibility for the attack.

Dec 12, 2001 - Yair Amar, 13, of Emmanuel; Esther Avraham, 42, of Emmanuel; Border Police Chief Warrant Officer Yoel Bienenfeld, 35, of Moshav Tel Shahar; Moshe Gutman, 40, of Emmanuel; Avraham Nahman Nitzani, 17, of Betar Illit; Yirmiyahu Salem, 48, of Emmanuel; Israel Sternberg, 46, of Emmanuel; David Tzarfati, 38, of Ginot Shomron; Hananya Tzarfati, 32, of Kfar Saba; Ya'akov Tzarfati, 64, of Kfar Saba were killed when three terrorists attacked a No. 189 Dan bus and several passenger cars with a roadside bomb, anti-tank grenades, and light arms fire near the entrance to Emmanuel in Samaria at 18:00 P.M. About 30 others were injured. Both Fatah and Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

The idea that Israel was responsible for Palestinian terrorism when fatal attacks were happening several times a week is slanderous.

There was a supposed cease fire on December 16, 2001, and the alleged assassination - which Israel denied - was on January 14, 2002. In between those dates there were fatal attacks on Israelis on December 25 and January 9. If that was a ceasefire, it sure wasn't much of one. 

(h/t Irene)

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