Israel’s Partners for Peace: What They Say in English vs. What They Say in Arabic
Khaled Abu Toameh
A number of senior Palestinian officials who do not have much credibility among their own people are now trying to sell themselves to Israelis as “partners for peace.”
This is the same group of Palestinians who in the past advised Yasser Arafat to reject then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s offer during the botched Camp David summit in 2000. They were among Arafat’s inner circle when he walked out of the Camp David summit and initiated the “Second Intifada.”
These are also the same officials who, back then, justified the eruption of the intifada as a “natural response” to Israel’s refusal to comply with 100% of the Palestinians’ demands.
Saeb Erekat, Jibril Rajoub and Yasser Abed Rabbo are now trying to persuade the Israeli public that Israel does have partners for peace on the Palestinian side. And who are the new-old partners? Erekat, Rajoub and Abed Rabbo, of course.