Safieh responds to Lantos: "On Wednesday Safieh countered with a statement. "The PLO Mission rejects this unfortunate and insensitive characterization by Mr. Lantos, which is deemed as a direct insult to the Palestinian people as a whole," he said. Habash was "undeniably the second most important figure" in the history of the Palestinian national movement, Safieh said. "Honoring the memory of a national leader of the historical magnitude of Dr. George Habash does not constitute an endorsement of every ideological position or method used by Dr. Habash over the past 60 years of political struggle on behalf of the Palestine cause.""