Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas clarified for his people on Monday that he intends to make not even one concession or compromise in direct peace negotiations with Israel, and that for a final status peace to be achieved, Israel will have to fully meet all Arab demands and abandon its own conditions.
First and foremost, Abbas told Palestinian newspapers that if the Jewish building freeze in Judea and Samaria (the so-called "West Bank") is not extended indefinitely, the negotiations will come to an immediate halt. But Abbas also said he would walk out of the talks if he is pressured at all to alter the Palestinians' more hardline positions.
"If they demand concessions on the rights of the refugees or the 1967 borders, I will quit. I can’t allow myself to make even one concession," Abbas told the Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam.
Abbas was referring to the Palestinian demand that Israel solve the purported "Palestinian refugee" issue by opening its border to millions of new Arab citizens. Abbas has long championed that demand, despite the fact that it would mean the demographic destruction of the Jewish state. Even Israel's most liberal politicians reject the so-called "right of return."
The Palestinian leader's position on the issue was two-faced, as he then turned around and insisted that an independent Palestinian state created by the current peace process must not have a single Jew living in it. "We clarified that [the Palestinian Authority] would not agree to continued Israeli presence, military or civil, within a future Palestinian state," Abbas said.
In speaking of the 1967 borders, Abbas made it clear that he will not allow Israel to maintain control over a united Jerusalem as part of any peace deal. Up until 1967, the eastern half of Jerusalem was illegally occupied by Jordan. The Palestinians now claim it as their rightful capital.
Abbas reiterated his position in an interview with Jerusalem-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds when he rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's talk of a historic compromise between the two sides in order to reach a durable peace agreement.
Abbas also addressed Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as "the Jewish state."
"We're not talking about a Jewish state and we won't talk about one," Abbas said. "For us, there is the state of Israel and we won't recognize Israel as a Jewish state."
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21833
Showing posts with label Palestinian Authority. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Palestinian Authority. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Palestinian kids taught to idolize terrorists
The Palestinian Authority of "moderate" leader Mahmoud Abbas continues to teach local Arab children to idolize those who have given their lives in suicidal mass terrorist attacks against Israeli Jews.
Palestinian Media Watch reports that a number of summer camps that wrapped up this week in Judea and Samaria (the so-called "West Bank") were named after Dalal Mughrabi, the female terrorist who led the 1978 Coastal Road bus hijacking in which 37 Israelis were massacred.
Palestinian Authority official Yousuf Al-Aref remarked on a summer camp for girls in Bethlehem being named after Mughrabi, insisting that "naming such summer camps after the Shahida (martyr) Dalal Mughrabi strengthens the sense of belonging and citizenship among Palestinian girls."
The government controlled PA TV channel also enthusiastically reported on a Syrian summer camp that was named after Mughrabi where the youthful participants actually wore t-shirts with the terrorist's likeness printed on the back.
To cap off a summer of honoring the Palestinians' most successful terrorist to date, Abbas' Palestinian Authority hosted an event in Ramallah where a song was performed that glorified the Coastal Road massacre as the most "heroic" event in modern Palestinian history.
Abbas continues to maintain that there is no incitement or encourage to practice anti-Israel terrorism under his regime.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21689
Palestinian Media Watch reports that a number of summer camps that wrapped up this week in Judea and Samaria (the so-called "West Bank") were named after Dalal Mughrabi, the female terrorist who led the 1978 Coastal Road bus hijacking in which 37 Israelis were massacred.
Palestinian Authority official Yousuf Al-Aref remarked on a summer camp for girls in Bethlehem being named after Mughrabi, insisting that "naming such summer camps after the Shahida (martyr) Dalal Mughrabi strengthens the sense of belonging and citizenship among Palestinian girls."
The government controlled PA TV channel also enthusiastically reported on a Syrian summer camp that was named after Mughrabi where the youthful participants actually wore t-shirts with the terrorist's likeness printed on the back.
To cap off a summer of honoring the Palestinians' most successful terrorist to date, Abbas' Palestinian Authority hosted an event in Ramallah where a song was performed that glorified the Coastal Road massacre as the most "heroic" event in modern Palestinian history.
Abbas continues to maintain that there is no incitement or encourage to practice anti-Israel terrorism under his regime.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21689
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Counterproductive boycott of Israeli goods is harming Israeli businesses and Palestinian workers alike
As Washington and the European Union maintain their policy of portraying the Middle East peace process as being on the brink of a breakthrough (a fantasy they have clung to for decades), the growing Palestinian boycott of Israeli goods is starting to take a toll, both on Palestinians and Israelis.
The boycott started to pick up steam in recent months as Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad - the "moderate" whom Western power brokers insist is the key to peace - instigated and supported a number of public burnings of Israeli-made goods.
Fayyad also implemented legislation making it illegal for Palestinian stores to stock Israeli goods, or for average Palestinians to shop at Israeli stores. A team of 66,000 volunteers have been tasked by the Palestinian Authority with inspecting stores across the Palestinian-controlled territories. Those approved by the inspectors are given a large sticker to display declaring to all that their store has no Jewish products.
The boycott is ostensibly aimed only at Israeli factories and stores in Judea and Samaria - the so-called "West Bank" - but has inevitably extended to all Israeli-made goods.
Even if it were confined to Judea and Samaria, the boycott is having a huge impact on the financial well-being of local Palestinians, tens of thousands of whom are employed by the very factories and stores being boycotted. The economy of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, the fastest growing sector of Israeli society, is also taking a major hit.
According to media reports, hundreds of factories have had to cut back production, and many have had to shut down. In the large industrial park outside the Jerusalem suburb of Maaleh Adumim, no fewer than 17 factories have closed their doors.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=180&view=item&idx=2058
The boycott started to pick up steam in recent months as Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad - the "moderate" whom Western power brokers insist is the key to peace - instigated and supported a number of public burnings of Israeli-made goods.
Fayyad also implemented legislation making it illegal for Palestinian stores to stock Israeli goods, or for average Palestinians to shop at Israeli stores. A team of 66,000 volunteers have been tasked by the Palestinian Authority with inspecting stores across the Palestinian-controlled territories. Those approved by the inspectors are given a large sticker to display declaring to all that their store has no Jewish products.
The boycott is ostensibly aimed only at Israeli factories and stores in Judea and Samaria - the so-called "West Bank" - but has inevitably extended to all Israeli-made goods.
Even if it were confined to Judea and Samaria, the boycott is having a huge impact on the financial well-being of local Palestinians, tens of thousands of whom are employed by the very factories and stores being boycotted. The economy of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, the fastest growing sector of Israeli society, is also taking a major hit.
According to media reports, hundreds of factories have had to cut back production, and many have had to shut down. In the large industrial park outside the Jerusalem suburb of Maaleh Adumim, no fewer than 17 factories have closed their doors.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=180&view=item&idx=2058
Friday, July 9, 2010
Palestinian leader calls for Arab invasion of Israel
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, branded a "moderate" by the international community, let his true colors show during a recent meeting with writers and journalists when he stated that he would favor a pan-Arab military offensive against the Jewish state.
The official Palestinian Authority daily newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida on Tuesday wrote that when Abbas met recently with media figures at the home of the Palestinian ambassador to Jordan, he recounted that during an Arab League Summit in Libya in March he told his fellow leaders that he still preferred war against Israel, but could not do it alone.
"We are unable to confront Israel militarily, and this point was discussed at the Arab League Summit," said Abbas. "There I turned to the Arab States and I said: 'If you want war, and if all of you will fight Israel, we are in favor. But the Palestinians will not fight alone because they don't have the ability to do it.'"
The Arab states of the Middle East have tried at least three times to militarily destroy Israel, but each time ended up losing territory to the Jewish state.
The "Palestinian crisis" that was birthed after Israel's liberation of Judea and Samaria (the so-called "West Bank") in 1967 is seen by many Israelis as nothing more than a more calculated and patient approach to ultimately removing Israel from the map.
Yasser Arafat admitted as much in 1993 when he told fellow Palestinians in a pre-recorded message played on Arab television as he signed the "Oslo Accords" that his PLO's guerilla tactics and eventual land-for-peace diplomacy was a phased strategy that would lead to the complete replacement of Israel with another Arab Muslim state:
"Do not forget that our Palestine National Council accepted the decision in 1974. It called for the establishment of a national authority on any part of Palestinian land that is liberated or from which the Israelis withdrew... This is the moment of return, the moment of gaining a foothold on the first liberated Palestinian land."
The 1974 decision referenced by Arafat was the PLO's official acceptance of a phased strategy for destroying Israel, as opposed to the more direct strategy of military conquest that had been employed up until the Yom Kippur War a year earlier.
Despite co-founding the PLO with Arafat, Abbas has long been whitewashed by an international community eager to impose its idea of peaceful conflict resolution on the region. That is why Abbas' remarks in Arabic, such as the one above, are regularly ignored by the world media and Western leaders. But Israelis warn that his views, and the influence they have an the Palestinian general public, ensure that a genuine and lasting peace is impossible to achieve.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21473
The official Palestinian Authority daily newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida on Tuesday wrote that when Abbas met recently with media figures at the home of the Palestinian ambassador to Jordan, he recounted that during an Arab League Summit in Libya in March he told his fellow leaders that he still preferred war against Israel, but could not do it alone.
"We are unable to confront Israel militarily, and this point was discussed at the Arab League Summit," said Abbas. "There I turned to the Arab States and I said: 'If you want war, and if all of you will fight Israel, we are in favor. But the Palestinians will not fight alone because they don't have the ability to do it.'"
The Arab states of the Middle East have tried at least three times to militarily destroy Israel, but each time ended up losing territory to the Jewish state.
The "Palestinian crisis" that was birthed after Israel's liberation of Judea and Samaria (the so-called "West Bank") in 1967 is seen by many Israelis as nothing more than a more calculated and patient approach to ultimately removing Israel from the map.
Yasser Arafat admitted as much in 1993 when he told fellow Palestinians in a pre-recorded message played on Arab television as he signed the "Oslo Accords" that his PLO's guerilla tactics and eventual land-for-peace diplomacy was a phased strategy that would lead to the complete replacement of Israel with another Arab Muslim state:
"Do not forget that our Palestine National Council accepted the decision in 1974. It called for the establishment of a national authority on any part of Palestinian land that is liberated or from which the Israelis withdrew... This is the moment of return, the moment of gaining a foothold on the first liberated Palestinian land."
The 1974 decision referenced by Arafat was the PLO's official acceptance of a phased strategy for destroying Israel, as opposed to the more direct strategy of military conquest that had been employed up until the Yom Kippur War a year earlier.
Despite co-founding the PLO with Arafat, Abbas has long been whitewashed by an international community eager to impose its idea of peaceful conflict resolution on the region. That is why Abbas' remarks in Arabic, such as the one above, are regularly ignored by the world media and Western leaders. But Israelis warn that his views, and the influence they have an the Palestinian general public, ensure that a genuine and lasting peace is impossible to achieve.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21473
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
EU waters down wording, but still wants Jerusalem divided
Israeli officials were relieved on Tuesday when the European Union passed a resolution merely calling for Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate the division of Jerusalem, rather that recognizing eastern Jerusalem as the capital of "Palestine" even before negotiations have been concluded.
The original wording of the resolution, authored by Sweden, had caused much consternation in Israel over its ground-breaking acceptance of Palestinian and Arab demands without acknowledgement of Israel's positions.
The resolution was also reworded to not refer to the Palestinian Authority as "Palestine."
Under the surface, of course, the new wording is no different than the original, as it predetermines the outcome of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations by insisting they conclude with the division of Jerusalem, which most Israelis do not accept.
Palestinian leaders praised the resolution as the first step toward the establishment of an Arab Muslim state on the biblical lands of Judea and Samaria with its capital in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat blasted the resolution, and reminded Europe that it had recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of the reunification of Berlin, an event that should have reminded all involved that "no divided city in the history of the world has functioned properly."
source: http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=20136
The original wording of the resolution, authored by Sweden, had caused much consternation in Israel over its ground-breaking acceptance of Palestinian and Arab demands without acknowledgement of Israel's positions.
The resolution was also reworded to not refer to the Palestinian Authority as "Palestine."
Under the surface, of course, the new wording is no different than the original, as it predetermines the outcome of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations by insisting they conclude with the division of Jerusalem, which most Israelis do not accept.
Palestinian leaders praised the resolution as the first step toward the establishment of an Arab Muslim state on the biblical lands of Judea and Samaria with its capital in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat blasted the resolution, and reminded Europe that it had recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of the reunification of Berlin, an event that should have reminded all involved that "no divided city in the history of the world has functioned properly."
source: http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=20136
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Israel: Obama criticism of Jerusalem construction is racist
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on Wednesday called US President Barack Obama's strong criticism of the building of additional Jewish homes in a Jewish neighborhood of the Israeli capital a position based on racism.
Said Barkat:
"Israeli law does not discriminate between Jews, Muslims, and Christians or between eastern and western Jerusalem. The demand to halt construction by religion is not legal in the United States or in any other free place in the world. I do not presume that any government would demand to freeze construction in the United States based on race, religion or gender and the attempt to demand it from Jerusalem is a double standard and inconceivable."
The Jerusalem mayor was responding to Obama's remarks to Fox News earlier in the day, in which the president referred to the approval of 900 new apartments in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo as "settlement activity," and suggested that it justified further Palestinian violence.
Many Israeli lawmakers publicly agreed with Barkat, including opposition leader Tzipi Livni, who told visiting French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner that "Gilo is part of the Israeli consensus, and that understanding is important for every discussion on the final borders of any future agreement."
Kouchner took a lighter view of the issue than Obama, and told reporters that he didn't feel the construction of additional Jewish apartments in a neighborhood where so many Jews already live should in any way hinder the peace process.
But the Palestinians took their cue from Obama. Chief Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat was quick to confirm that the Palestinians, too, view the Jewish presence in Gilo as settlement activity, and do not feel they can make peace with Israel so long as it continues.
Built in 1971, Gilo was a barren hilltop when it was liberated by Israel from illegal Jordanian occupation in the 1967 Six Day War. Today it is home to more than 30,000 Israelis, and an integral part of Jerusalem.
Source: http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=20003
Said Barkat:
"Israeli law does not discriminate between Jews, Muslims, and Christians or between eastern and western Jerusalem. The demand to halt construction by religion is not legal in the United States or in any other free place in the world. I do not presume that any government would demand to freeze construction in the United States based on race, religion or gender and the attempt to demand it from Jerusalem is a double standard and inconceivable."
The Jerusalem mayor was responding to Obama's remarks to Fox News earlier in the day, in which the president referred to the approval of 900 new apartments in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo as "settlement activity," and suggested that it justified further Palestinian violence.
Many Israeli lawmakers publicly agreed with Barkat, including opposition leader Tzipi Livni, who told visiting French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner that "Gilo is part of the Israeli consensus, and that understanding is important for every discussion on the final borders of any future agreement."
Kouchner took a lighter view of the issue than Obama, and told reporters that he didn't feel the construction of additional Jewish apartments in a neighborhood where so many Jews already live should in any way hinder the peace process.
But the Palestinians took their cue from Obama. Chief Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat was quick to confirm that the Palestinians, too, view the Jewish presence in Gilo as settlement activity, and do not feel they can make peace with Israel so long as it continues.
Built in 1971, Gilo was a barren hilltop when it was liberated by Israel from illegal Jordanian occupation in the 1967 Six Day War. Today it is home to more than 30,000 Israelis, and an integral part of Jerusalem.
Source: http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=20003
USAID helping facilitate Palestinian terrorism
Billions of dollars of US taxpayers' money have been used to advance the cause of Palestinian terror groups against Israel by raising a new generation of young Arabs ready to be recruited for "martyrdom."
In an interview with Arutz 7 Radio, journalist David Bedein said his recent investigations had revealed that Palestinian school textbooks continue to praise the use of terrorist violence against Jews and to deny the legitimacy of the State of Israel.
Those textbooks and the schoolhouses where they are used have been largely paid for by USAID, an American government-funded international aid program that has pumped $2.4 billion into the Palestinian Authority over the past decade.
According to USAID, those funds have been used to "reduce poverty, improve health and education, create jobs and advance democracy." But a USAID official admitted to Bedein that his agency does not check the PA school curriculum it is funding to make sure it complies with the terms of the US-backed peace process.
Incitement to hatred and the encouragement of violence in school textbooks is a violation of Israel's existing agreements with the Palestinians and the US-authored "Road Map" to peace.
Several high-ranking US congressional leaders as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have chided the Palestinians in the past over the venomous textbooks, but have thus far failed to take any punitive action, or to at least reduce pressure on Israel until the Palestinians comply with their peace commitments.
USAID says it plans to invest another $153 million in US taxpayers' money into the Palestinian education system in 2010.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=20002
In an interview with Arutz 7 Radio, journalist David Bedein said his recent investigations had revealed that Palestinian school textbooks continue to praise the use of terrorist violence against Jews and to deny the legitimacy of the State of Israel.
Those textbooks and the schoolhouses where they are used have been largely paid for by USAID, an American government-funded international aid program that has pumped $2.4 billion into the Palestinian Authority over the past decade.
According to USAID, those funds have been used to "reduce poverty, improve health and education, create jobs and advance democracy." But a USAID official admitted to Bedein that his agency does not check the PA school curriculum it is funding to make sure it complies with the terms of the US-backed peace process.
Incitement to hatred and the encouragement of violence in school textbooks is a violation of Israel's existing agreements with the Palestinians and the US-authored "Road Map" to peace.
Several high-ranking US congressional leaders as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have chided the Palestinians in the past over the venomous textbooks, but have thus far failed to take any punitive action, or to at least reduce pressure on Israel until the Palestinians comply with their peace commitments.
USAID says it plans to invest another $153 million in US taxpayers' money into the Palestinian education system in 2010.
source:http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=20002
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Israel: Palestinians wouldn't last a day without us
Senior Israeli officials on Monday told The Jerusalem Post that Palestinian threats to unilaterally declare independence are a bluff, since the Palestinians know full well they couldn't last a day without Israeli support.
One Israeli army official said that the Palestinian Authority had made some progress in its management of civilian affair, but pointed to its inability to adequately manage and allocate water resources as an example of why it couldn't possibly go independent.
"The Palestinian Water Authority wouldn't last a day on its own," the source said. "We allocated them a piece of land on the coast to build a desalination plant and they have decided not to build it."
Another official noted that any time Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas moved outside Ramallah, Israeli security agencies had to ensure his safety since he can't trust enough of his own people.
"When Abbas travels it is like a military operation. Everyone is involved since the PA forces cannot yet completely ensure his security."
The Palestinian Authority's inability to stand on its own two feet has been pointed out by some as the major folly of the Middle East peace process, which would essentially create a welfare state indefinitely dependent on major handouts from the international community and infrastructure maintenance by Israel.
source: http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=19988
One Israeli army official said that the Palestinian Authority had made some progress in its management of civilian affair, but pointed to its inability to adequately manage and allocate water resources as an example of why it couldn't possibly go independent.
"The Palestinian Water Authority wouldn't last a day on its own," the source said. "We allocated them a piece of land on the coast to build a desalination plant and they have decided not to build it."
Another official noted that any time Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas moved outside Ramallah, Israeli security agencies had to ensure his safety since he can't trust enough of his own people.
"When Abbas travels it is like a military operation. Everyone is involved since the PA forces cannot yet completely ensure his security."
The Palestinian Authority's inability to stand on its own two feet has been pointed out by some as the major folly of the Middle East peace process, which would essentially create a welfare state indefinitely dependent on major handouts from the international community and infrastructure maintenance by Israel.
source: http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=19988
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