PMW: Mahmoud Abbas: "The reason for all of the disasters" in the world is the "occupation" Abbas believes Israel's entire existence is an "occupation" - since being established in 1948 Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

In a recent speech, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas stated that the Israeli “occupation” is the reason for all disasters in the world:

 

“The international community is becoming more and more convinced that the occupation of the Palestinian state by Israel is the reason for all the disasters that the region and the world are suffering from...”

[Official PA TV, March 12, 2017]

 

Abbas’ statement echoes the antisemitic teachings of a religious scholar on official PA TV, Imad Hamato, who Abbas has also endorsed by

appointing him dean of a system of schools. Palestinian Media Watch reported on a lesson in Islam where Hamato taught that the Jews are the reason for all of humanity’s problems:

 

"Humanity will never live in comfort as long as the Jews are causing devastating corruption throughout the land. Humanity will never live in peace or fortune or tranquility as long as they are corrupting the land. An old man told me: If a fish in the sea fights with another fish, I am sure the Jews are behind it."

[Official PA TV, Feb. 27, 2015 and Feb. 25, 2016]

 

In another interview, Abbas recently clarified what he means by Israeli "occupation" - saying it has lasted “70 years” - i.e., since Israel was established in 1948.

 

“I told him [US President Donald Trump] that we hope that he will find a solution to the Palestinian issue after 70 years of occupation that will be based on two states, a Palestinian state that will live in security and peace alongside the State of Israel."

[Al-Watan, (Qatar), March 16, 2017]

 

Again Abbas is showing that he does not recognize Israel in any borders. The entire

State of Israel is an "occupation."

 

Palestinian Media Watch has shown that the PA and Fatah routinely present all of Israel as "Palestine" and all of Israel as an “occupation”.  

 

PA and Fatah leaders and media also often voice the libel that Israel/the Jews are responsible for crises in the world and world terror. 

 

The following are longer excerpts of Abbas’ statements:

 

Speech by Abbas at the celebration of the formulation of the Public Service Ethics Code

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “The international community is becoming more and more convinced that the occupation of the Palestinian state by Israel is the reason for all the disasters that the region and the world are suffering from, and that without a just solution to the Palestinian issue in accordance with the two-state solution - which is included in the Arab Peace Initiative - and the relevant resolutions of the [UN] Security Council, neither peace, nor security, nor stability will be achieved, and the region will remain exposed to very difficult possibilities, especially in light of the growth of the phenomenon of terror and extremism, which we condemn and are fighting against with all of our strength.”

[Official PA TV, March 12, 2017]

 

Excerpt of interview with Abbas:

[Q:] "We will begin with the main event, and that is the phone conversation that American President Donald Trump had with you, and your important meeting with his Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt. What was said in your first conversation with the US president, and did his conversation constitute a plan to eliminate the Palestinian cause, and not to resolve it?"

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas:] "This was the first time I spoke with Trump. He told me at the beginning of the conversation that he has heard much about me and he wants to invite me to visit the White House. I told him that I am ready to come at any time that suits him, and the conversation, which was not long but which was warm, ended. I told him that we hope that he will find a solution to the Palestinian issue after 70 years of occupation that will be based on two states, a Palestinian state that will live in security and peace alongside the State of Israel."

[Al-Watan, (Qatar), March 16, 2017

Israel Made Me Beat My Wife

It’s truly amazing just how far The Guardian can go when it comes to blaming Israel. Angela Robson takes a look at the status of women in Gaza and carries out some interviews:

“Before the blockade, my husband used to make good money working in Israel,” she says. “With the blockade, that all stopped. When he can’t find any work and we have nothing to eat, he blames me. He is a like a crazy animal. I stay quiet when he hits me. Afterwards, he cries and says, if he had a job, he wouldn’t beat me.”

It is five years since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip and Israel tightened its siege of the territory. Many men became jobless overnight and it is women who have ended up bearing the brunt of their husbands’ frustration.

So let’s get this straight – Israel is the reason that Palestinian men beat their wives.

Maybe The Guardian’s journalist might like to consider that violence against women might very well be a by-product of a society that glorifies violence and terrorism, where children can spend their summers 

learning

 jihadi skills at Hamas sleepaway camps.

And what about Hamas control over Gaza, which encourages a conservative Islamic attitude towards women, curtailing their freedoms, opportunities and even their dress codes?

Nowadays, with the blockade cutting off 1.6 million Palestinians from the rest of the world, conservatism dominates much of daily life.

So, according to The Guardian, it is Israel’s blockade that has led to increasing conservatism and nothing to do with an extreme, misogynistic Hamas government. Indeed, nowhere in the article is Hamas responsible for any of the social ills afflicting Gazans. The only possible culprit is Israel.

And what of the barriers to Gazan women’s liberation?

So many doors have been closed to Palestinian women in Gaza. It’s like getting out of one prison only to find another door closed. There are many obstacles – the occupation, the blockade, the internal Palestinian division.

Considering that Israel left Gaza in 2005, it’s somewhat bizarre that “the occupation” is having such a negative impact on women’s rights in the territory.

What’s next? Will The Guardian blame Israel if Palestinian athletes fail to win any medals at the London Olympics?

This is rich: Assad regime condemns "barbaric Israeli Crimes against 'Palestinian People' in Gaza

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. In fact, this one is more like the pot calling the coffee creamer black. The Assad regime has condemned the 'barbaric Israeli crimes' in Gaza. 

The Syrian government denounced the barbaric, reprehensible crimes committed by the Israeli army against the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip on Wednesday which resulted in a number of martyrs and injured.

In a statement, the government called on the international community to pressure Israel into ceasing its aggression on the people of Gaza Strip, imploring the free and honest people of the world to move seriously to confront this tyranny and repel Israel which constantly ignores international legitimacy and shirks international resolution in blatant violation of international law.

The statement said that the Arab people are needed today more than ever to act and exert pressure to support the Palestinian people's steadfastness and struggle in defense of the Palestinian cause, which is the central cause of the nation.

The government offered condolences on its behalf and on behalf of the Syrian people to the families of the martyrs, affirming that despite the aggression and conspiracies against it, Syria will forever remain faithful to its obligations and stances towards the Palestinian people in terms of them reclaiming their occupied lands and establishing a free and sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

You think they're looking for a distraction or something? Even a lot of Arab reporters are dismissing this 'condemnation' on Twitter.

PA, Suha using Arafat story to distract world from their own crimes

From Der Spiegel:

During a recent studio interview with al-Jazeera, a choked-up Suha Arafat demanded an investigation. Now, sitting in her living room, where a portrait of Arafat hangs on the wall, she feels she is finally approaching her goal. "I am very confident," she says, "that the entire case will reach a positive end in very little time and that we will finally learn the truth." This is not wishful thinking, she adds, noting that there are reasons for being so optimistic.

Since polonium-210 has a half-life of 138 days, things need to proceed quickly. Therefore, Arafat's body will be examined in the coming weeks, believes Saad Djebbar, one of Suha Arafat's lawyers in Paris. In a television interview, he said that the French legal system has jurisdiction because the murder began in the Palestinian territories and ended in France. He then added the curious sentence that Suha Arafat wants to prevent the Palestinian Authority from obstructing the investigation.

This is a charge that enrages Tawfik Tirawi, Arafat's former intelligence chief, because it is also directed against him. For the last two years, Tirawi has headed the official Palestinian commission charged with investigating the cause of Arafat's death. Since the scandal involving possible polonium poisoning erupted, he has been repeatedly forced to explain why it was al-Jazeera, rather than him, that came up with the idea of taking a closer look at Arafat's underwear.

As Tirawi sees it, it was just an accident that al-Jazeera discovered the last missing piece of the puzzle. He claims that his commission has tirelessly investigated the case, but that its activities have been secret because such things are obviously kept out of the public gaze.Although he is either unwilling or unable to discuss the commission's findings, he will say that it has been quite successful.

A previous PA investigation headed by a former aide to Arafat concluded that it was thallium poisoning, although it is unclear how official that was..

Not only Suha Arafat, but also many Palestinians in Ramallah see things differently. They believe that Palestinian Authority officials never made any real effort to solve the mystery surrounding his death. The first investigative commission was dissolved six months after Arafat's death and only reappointed in 2010.

In all of this, the Palestinians had good cause for looking into things more closely. After all, the French clinic's 558-page report on the death of their national hero raises more questions than it provides answers. For example, why did Suha Arafat refuse to allow a liver biopsy to be taken? Why didn't anyone demand that an autopsy be conducted? How can it be that even the best doctors in France didn't find the cause of this strange infection, which caused blood to coagulate and led to a stroke? Could it be that the French government wants to keep the cause of death secret?

Moreover, why is there so much missing in the report, and why does it seem like "someone has played around with it," as Avi Issacharoff, a reporter with the Israeli daily Haaretz, says? Likewise, he also finds it somewhat odd that he, an Israeli journalist, was the only one to publish the secret French medical report, rather than Suha Arafat or the Palestinian Authority.

Suha Arafat says she is driven by the search for the truth. But it might also have something to do with the fact that, in addition to being widely despised in Ramallah, she has also fallen into disfavor in France and Tunisia, where she is under investigation for suspicious cash flows and corruption. There is also the persistent rumor that she had a hand in the disappearance of $300 million (€240 million) after Arafat's death. In any case, it would certainly seem opportune for her to now assume the role of the widow avenging her husband's death in the name of the Palestinian people.

Enthusiasm for the investigation is more tempered in Ramallah, partly because some people there suspect al-Jazeera of wanting to help topple Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. But, of course, Palestinian officials also realize that they can take advantage of the search for Arafat's alleged murderer. At the moment, there are no peace talks with Israel, the economy is in a slump and there continue to be deep divisions between Hamas and Fatah, the rival Palestinian groupings ruling the Gaza Strip and West Bank, respectively. Under these circumstances, it would be a perfect time to have news of a poisoned martyr to deflect from the political deadlock and disorientation.

For these reasons, the debate might say more about the Palestinians' situation today than about Arafat's death. "To this day, we have avoided accusing Israel of being responsible for Arafat's death," says Nimr Hamad, Abbas' political adviser. "But if we find polonium in his body, it is 99.9 percent certain that it was Israel. That would help us because it proves that Israel doesn't want peace." 

That highlighted phrase is an out-and-out lie. In 2005, a PLO ambassador accused Israel of killing Arafat with secret laser device.

In 2006, the PA accused Israel of murdering Arafat, without any disclaimers. (Hamas was the head of the PA at the time but Fatah welcomed the announcement.)

 Children are taught (and music videos sung on official PA TV insist) that Jews killed Jesus - and Arafat. 



And, of course, the commissions that have been set up by Palestinian Arab officials to determine the cause of Arafat's death have all assumed from the outset that he was murdered.

How Palestinians Keep Shooting Themselves in the Foot

Instead of using the billions of dollars that were given to them by Americans and Europeans to create new jobs, the PLO leadership stole most of the funds and later blamed Israel for damaging the Palestinian economy.

As the Arab countries continue to impose strict employment restrictions on Palestinians, Israel is opening its doors to Palestinian workers from the West Bank. Palestinians say, in fact, that Israel is becoming one of the largest employers of Palestinians in the Middle East.

Figures released this week by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in Ramallah showed that at least 80,000 Palestinians were now working in Israel and even in Jewish settlements.

In the first quarter of 2012, according to the bureau, there were only 77,000 Palestinians working in Israel and the settlements. In the second quarter of the ear, the number grew to 80,000; and earlier this week, the Israeli government issued work permits to another 10,000 Palestinians from the West Bank.

The move has been received with a sigh of relief among Palestinians, especially as it comes on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan.

The figures also showed that Palestinians employed by Israelis earn more than those who work for their Palestinian brethren in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A Palestinian construction laborer often earns more than a senior ministry official in the Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank or the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip.

What is interesting about the bureau's report is that the number of Palestinians working in Jewish settlements has increased despite calls from the Palestinian Authority to boycott the settlements.

Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad's attempts to prevent the workers from going to the settlements has failed largely because they were not able to provide them with alternative employment. Despite the billions of dollars that were showered on the Palestinian Authority in recent years by the international community, Abbas and Fayyad still have not been able to solve the problem of unemployment in the Palestinian territories.

The Arab world, which once used to absorb hundreds of thousands of Palestinian employees, is beginning to close its doors in the face of Palestinians. Many of the Arab countries accuse the Palestinians of being ungrateful. Others do not want to see Palestinians at all: they consider Palestinians troublemakers and a source of instability.

Some Arab countries such as Lebanon, Egypt, Kuwait and Jordan even impose apartheid-like regulations and laws that prevent Palestinians from earning a decent living.

The Palestinians could have built one of the best economies in the region after the beginning of the peace process in 1993. But instead of using the billions of dollars that were given to them by Americans and Europeans to create new jobs, the PLO leadership stole most of the funds and later blamed Israel for damaging the Palestinian economy.

Suicide bombings and financial and administrative corruption are the main reason why the Palestinian economy remains as weak as ever. The Palestinians are experts in shooting themselves in the foot and then blaming Israel.

Bogeymen of the Arab World Share on email Share on twitter Share on facebook Share on digg | More Sharing ServicesMore Aaron David Miller

Heroically, the Arabs are freeing themselves from their authoritarian masters.

But can they liberate themselves from the fears, conspiracies and prejudices that also shape so much of their politics and identity? Their evolution to fully functioning democratic polities may depend on it.

Two principal bogeymen—Israel and the colonial power (AKA America)—continue to haunt the Arab world like ghosts in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.

Each of these spirits is grounded at least partly in historic and contemporary reality. But each has in turn been magnified and exaggerated into a system of logic that drives not just the lie but the big lie. And very often, these untruths are willfully conjured up by the Arabs themselves to mask their own deficiencies and to distract and rally public opinion.

Israel figures prominently and simultaneously in Arab hopes and fears. On one hand, the Jewish state can be a unifying force in rallying Arab pride and power. Consider the aftermath of Hezbollah’s successful use of high-trajectory weapons in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, when its chief Hassan Nasrallah for a time became almost a revered figure on the Arab street.

On the other hand, Israel is a source of dishonor and shame—and perhaps secretly a source of admiration too, which makes matters even more complex. How could a tiny country defy the will of the great Arab nation and make itself into the strongest military power and most technologically advanced country in the Middle East? For the Arabs, Israel is one tough and painful look in the mirror.

There's no doubt that Israel's own policies—from settlements to the occupation and treatment of Palestinians to its use of military power—feed Arab anger, rage and humiliation.

But let’s be clear. The Arabs themselves have turned David into an ugly and mythical Goliath. The anti-Israeli trope goes much deeper than mere criticism of a nation-state’s behavior. Israel has been elevated to a power (backed by America) that, along with international Jewry, has the capacity to shape the world arena, if not to control it.

The view among many Syrian oppositionists is that the United States hasn’t intervened against Assad because Israel prefers the status quo or, worse, an outcome in which the Syrians just bleed themselves through internecine conflict. Meanwhile, supporters of the Assad regime argue that the opposition is driven by pro-Israeli forces bent on eliminating the only Arab state that stands up to Israel and its American patron.

By implication, the view in much of the Arab world (and in Europe too) is that the pro-Israeli lobby holds America’s Middle East policy hostage and can dictate matters of war and peace at will. In effect, it has become and remains the default for any Arabs, no matter what their orientation, to simply blame whatever they don’t like—in the Syrian case, whether the survival or downfall of the regime—on imaginary omnipotent American policies serving exclusively the supposed interests of Israel.

Worse still are the anti-Semitic tropes that still compel and captivate the region. They’re not new. Go into any Arab bookstore in Cairo and Damascus and you’ll be presented with a smorgasbord of literary delights from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to pamphlets about contemporary Jewish control of the banks and the media. When the spokesman for the current president of Egypt talks about shaking the sleep from the eyes of the Jews and liberating Jerusalem, he’s speaking not just for himself but to a well-primed audience.

Indeed the Arab Spring—which in some countries is starting to look like an Islamist spring—brings with it a whole series of dangerous religious tropes that are likely to inflame, not calm, an already volatile situation, particularly over an issue like Jerusalem. That public opinion is now going to be more influential in shaping the foreign policy of a country like Egypt will only keep the pot boiling.

The second group of demons consists of the great Western powers that have been intervening in this region for centuries. The Arabs have legitimate grievances against them. The history of this region is a running commentary of outside forces trying to impose themselves on smaller tribes for economic, religious and strategic reasons.

But at what point do the Arabs stop blaming the West and their intelligence agencies for much of what ails them? Is there an expiration date on the evils of the colonial legacy? When will polls taken in the Arab world find that a majority believes that it was indeed Al Qaeda that attacked America on 9/11 and not Israel’s Mossad or even America’s CIA; or failing that, that Al Qaeda is a creation of the CIA? Will America always be a convenient excuse to shift responsibility from the Arabs’ own incompetence and inability to construct fully productive and functioning societies where human rights, rule of law, prosperity and security are available to the majority of their citizens?

Conspiracy theories infantilize and prevent individuals and nations from assuming responsibilities for dealing with their real problems. The Arab spring was a critical but excruciatingly painful beginning. For the Arabs, freeing themselves from their demons—both real and imagined—will be harder still.

Aaron David Miller is a distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center. He served as an adviser to Republican and Democratic secretaries of state on Arab-Israeli negotiations.