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Israeli Ex-Diplomat: Islamic Terrorism Here to Stay: Terrorism Will Continue Even After Near East Conflict is Resolved

Tuesday, May 4, 2004
By Wolfgang Polzer
Special to ASSIST News Service

BERLIN (ANS) -- A former high-ranking Israeli diplomat has warned that Islamic terrorism is here to stay even if the Middle East conflict can be resolved. Speaking recently at the Protestant Academy in Berlin the former Israeli ambassador to Germany, Avi Primor, reminded the audience of the fact that the region had seen many conflicts that had nothing to do with Israelis and the Palestinians.

Osama bin Laden, head of the terrorist network Al Qaida, hardly ever mentioned Palestine, Israel or Jerusalem. He regarded this as a secondary issue, said Primor. If bin Laden succeeded in establishing an international Islamic theocracy, the Palestinian conflict would be obsolete anyway.

According to Primor the most effective means of countering terrorism is to give Arabs new hope for their future. Fundamentalism always thrives among people with no hope, he said.

It was worrying that the world population will rise to 7.5 billion within the next 25 years and that most of them will live in poverty. Primor: “After World War II the American Marshall plan gave new hope to the people of Germany – we need something similar today.”

In Primor’s view the main problem in the Near East is that Palestinians cannot live with honor in their own country. But there were also positive signs. More and more people on both sides of the conflict were realizing that things had to change.

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Wolfgang Polzer (53), is senior news editor of the Evangelical News Agency idea, Wetzlar (Germany), which he joined in 1981. His previous work included four years in the editorial department of the Salvation Army in Germany. In all, he has spent 27 years in Christian media. Wolfgang can be contacted by e-mail at: Wolfgang.Polzer@idea.de.
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ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126 USA
E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com, Web Site: www.assistnews.net

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