PA Foreign Minister Lets the Curtain Slip
Remember just the other day, when Western media outlets were running interference for the PA by trumpeting Abu Mazen’s claim that the PA’s efforts to secure “recognition” by the UN were not intended to foreclose negotiations. Seems someone forgot to make sure that the PA’s foreign minister got the memo, as the following report published in today’s Yediot Aharonot indicates:
PA says tired of ‘Israel’s lies’
Palestinian FM says negotiations with Israel lead nowhere, UN must now find solutions. MK Tibi: I hope PA succeeds and Netanyahu fails
Hassan ShaalanPublished: 08.16.11, 00:50 / Israel News
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki stressed Monday that the Palestinians are determined to promote a unilateral bid for statehood. “We are sick of the Israeli government’s lies and are better off waiting until we receive our rights as a people who have suffered enormously,” he said at a dinner breaking the Ramadan fast in Wadi Ara.
Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List Ta’al) said, “The Arabs in Israel endorse the establishment of a Palestinian state and efforts to achieve UN membership status. I hope you will succeed and Netanyahu and Lieberman fail.”
The event was attended by some 1,900 members of the Arab sector. “I was always preceded by an Israeli delegation in every country I visited, and followed by an Israeli delegation in every country I left, in order to undermine the Palestinian demand for recognition in the UN,” Maliki said.
The Palestinian FM stated that thus far 120 states have recognized Palestine, estimating the number will grow further. “We are tired of the Israeli government because every time they wanted to enter into negotiations they were also busy building settlements on our lands and burning mosques, churches and houses.
“They refuse to allow us to have a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as capital. That is why we have seen that negotiations do not promote anything and we shall hand over responsibility to the UN, which must come up with solutions for us.”
Tibi addressed al-Maliki and said, “The Palestinian people deserve what other nations have gotten. Palestine will be the world’s 194th state and that is symbolic in raising the issue of refugees and UN Resolution 194 on the matter.”
The MK also called for non-violent means of endorsing the Palestinian move. “Non-violent protests have proven themselves in the Middle East,” he said.
It was not, in my opinion, accidental that Maliki leveled the libelous accusation that Israel burns churches, houses and mosques while at a traditional Muslim iftar (the evening meal breaking the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan). The accusation, and the place where it was made, were intended to inflame religious hatred for the Jews (hence the inclusion of church burning in the mix), and further erode any desire for peace on the part of the constituency to which the statement was made.
Note, as well, Maliki’s claim that seeking unilateral “recognition” by the UN is intended to be but a first step in raising and pressing the Palestinian demand that Israel accept repatriation of Palestinian “refugees” within Israel’s borders. That is the purpose of his reference to “UN Resolution 194”, the so-called “right of return”.
Notably absent from his diatribe is any reference to UN Security Council Resolutions 242 or 338, which, unlike General Assembly Resolution 194, are legally binding on all UN member states and which explicitly state that the quid pro quo for Israeli withdrawal from any of the lands captured in the 1967 war is the:
Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force;
Remind me, again, why we call these people “moderates” and why Israel is expected to entrust the future safety of its people to them?