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A. Because Syria has rejected Sadat, there will be trouble in south Lebanon and Syria. Sadat will be ready to cooperate with Israel to make all kinds of trouble because the ultimate goal is to finish off the Palestinians. Sadat will also be attempting to destroy Assad himself. Sadat is now thinking that anything he can do to create difficulties for his opponents he will do:—without hesitation and with the compliance of the Israelis.
Q. Do you feel that [United Nations Resolution] 242 and Geneva are still viable today as a means of negotiating peace?
A. A solution for the Palestinians has been blocked by Sadat. Geneva is in the refrigerator. Geneva and 242 are finished. There should be other political and strategic approaches to peace, otherwise there will be war.
Q. What is your approach to a peace settlement?
A. If we could have gotten peace by going to Geneva, O.K. But that is not the situation. Our political struggle based on 242 and Geneva no longer applies. That route is blocked. So we must find a new way. But how? We should not stop our political struggle, and we can continue it through the United Nations, alliances, and through meetings like the one in Tripoli.
Q. What is your approach to a military solution?
A. If one thinks in terms of 1967 and 1973, no one could make the decision to fight. Israel is too powerful for that kind of war, and Israel would win. But there is another way of fighting. One can fight inside Israel. We can fight from the borders of Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, and we can cross into Israel. This is the long struggle. In 20 years I can see us fighting in Haifa, Jerusalem, in all the occupied towns, and I don't see any reason why we shouldn't win that war.
Q. What is the position of the Palestinian people today?
A. Our position is very difficult. We have no good news to report to our people. I don't think we will have good news next year, or the year after. But 20 years from now Israel will start to fall. Israel will be in a struggle it will not be able to face. Then the good news will begin for our people.