In an interview posted on the BreakThrough News YouTube channel on December 7, 2022, PFLP plane hijacker Leila Khaled told American journalist Rania Khalek that resistance and armed struggle are the "duty" of the Palestinian people and the "mainstream" means of resistance. She said that the Palestinians cannot just pray to God for justice, but "we have to do it by ourselves." When asked about accusations that she is a terrorist, she replied that Israel's "occupation" is "the peak of terrorism" and that the Palestinians do not care if they are called terrorists.
To view the clip of Leila Khaled, click here or below:
"The Peak Of Terrorism Is Occupation... People Have The Right To Resist By All Means, Including Armed Struggle"
Rania Khalek: "I'm sure you had to respond to this many times, to the accusations from the Israelis, from the Americans that this is all terrorism, what you did is terrorism, and that you are a terrorist."
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Leila Khaled: "For me, for us, the peak of terrorism is occupation.
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"People have the right to resist by all means, including armed struggle.
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"We don't have the luxury of choices. We have one choice; it is to resist our oppression. Now they speak about us as terrorists. We don't care about what they say, we care about what we do.
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We Cannot Achieve Justice Just By Praying To God... We Have To Do It Ourselves
"We thought that only armed struggle [should be used], but it didn't mean that we don't care about other things. We discovered that no, we could also resist on the international level. We are not alone on a besieged island. We are part of the world; we are part of the human beings on this globe. So, we have another means also of resistance, but the mainstream is armed struggle.
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"So, it is our duty, and nobody has to criticize us about that, because we want justice. We cannot [achieve it] just by praying to God to send us justice. No. We have to do it by ourselves."
