Ariel Sharon: We have been in this war for many years

From a speech given by the Prime Minister of Israel to the Knesset in Jerusalem

The issue of terrorism – to my regret – is not new to us. The State of Israel has been fighting Arab, Palestinian and Islamic fundamentalist terrorism for more than 120 years. Thousands of Jews have been murdered in terrorist attacks; Arab terrorism has left thousands of widows and tens of thousands of orphans.

The pain of the bereaved American people is familiar to us – very familiar to us. The war against terrorism must be an international war, a war by a coalition of the free world against the forces of terrorism and all those who believe that they can threaten freedom and our values. This is a war between good and evil – between humanity and those who thirst for blood. The way of the wicked will be defeated, the way of those who profess evil will not prosper. The way of the righteous, the humane and the free, will be victorious. We know this. We have been in this war for many years. We were not surprised by Arab, Palestinian and radical Islamic terrorism. Yasser Arafat chose a strategy of terrorism and established a coalition of terrorism. Terrorist actions against Israeli citizens are no different from Osama bin Laden's terrorism against American citizens.

Terrorism is terrorism and murder is murder. And we must remember: it was Arafat who – dozens of years ago – legitimised the hijacking of aircraft. It was Palestinian terrorist organis-ations who began to dispatch suicide-terrorists. All extremist movements have received redoubled legitimacy from Arafat since the murder of the Israeli athletes at Munich, and the murders of children at Avivim and Ma'alot.

There is no "good" and "bad" terrorism – it is all horrific, all evil, all lacking in human values. There is no forgiveness of terrorism. There is no compromise with terrorism. There are no terrorists who are "good boys" while other terrorists are "bad boys". They are all bad. The Arab countries are demanding – in order for them to join the coalition – that Israel pay a diplomatic and security price. And this they cannot receive. The war against terrorism is also a war against incitement, the terrible daily incitement in the official media and in the mosques. It is the incitement that leads to attacks, that dispatches suicide-bombers, that pulls the finger on the detonator trigger.

In this war, every state that supports terrorism is guilty; every body which encourages terrorism is guilty; every person who incites – the same judgment. A differentiation must be made between the forces of light who sanctify life and the forces of darkness who sanctify death.

We are all committed to peace. We all want to reach a diplomatic agreement, but we must not – I stress, we must not – allow a differentiation to be made between terrorism against us and terrorism against others as terrible as it may be (and the terrorism in the United States is the worst the world has ever known).

I congratulate President George W Bush on his decision to create a coalition against terrorism. This coalition must fight against all terrorist organisations, including those belonging to Arafat: the Presidential Guard, Force 17, parts of Arafat's security services that are collaborating in terrorism, the Tanzim and Fatah, who are causing a great part of our losses, as well as their partners in Arafat's coalition of terrorists – the Islamic Jihad and Hamas, Hezbollah and the PFLP.

If we are invited we will join and, in the meantime, the President of the United States has warmly thanked us for the help that we have already provided. If we are invited we will join because we are already fighting terror- ism in any case. I, the Prime Minister of Israel, a free and democratic state, stand here. And, in the name of all the decent and free people of the world, I stand here and oppose all the forces of evil that have brought about the rising wave of terrorism that threatens the foundations of human society.

I oppose all those who see innocent civilians as legitimate targets, and against states and organisations that, with premeditation, fund, support and encourage bloodthirsty terrorists.