Arab Leader Challenges PLO and Hamas On Peace, Offers His Own Bold Vision
A powerful Arab leader today boldly offered himself and his connections as a bridge for Arab-Israeli peace, in what may prove to be one of the few real fruits of the so-called “Arab Spring” as well as an indirect challenge to the traditional Palestinian leadership of the PLO and Hamas.
“After all the experience with war and peace and secret peace talks, there is a missing link that we have not used,” declared Sheikh Farid al-Ja’abari, the leader of the biggest hamoulah—clan—in the West Bank area that Israel conquered in 1967.
Sheikh Ja’abari’s remarks were unusual not only for their content but for their public nature,  offered—not behind closed doors—in a public session with Jewish settlers,  American and Israeli reporters, and even senior representatives of the European Union.
“I want to concentrate on this missing link,” said the 64-year-old sheikh, explaining this meant  educating the younger generation not to hate non-Arabs. Sheikh Ja’abari stressed that the PLO and Hamas had not moved away from a deliberate policy of hatred, but that he would do so unhesitatingly.
“I am determined to continue on this journey no matter what it costs,”  said Ja’abari, whose clan is said to number between 33,000 and 35,000, but whose overall backing may be over a million.
Sheikh Ja’abari. Photo: David Wilder, Hebron Fund.
The sheikh greeted invitees in a tent encampment near Hebron, the town of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael,  and he underlined the symbolic significance of the place to underscore joint movement for peace.  “In my view the Israeli people are ready for peace, and I think the Palestinians want peace.”
Sheikh Ja’abari’s remarks came at a time when public opinion polls and political foment show that both the PLO and Hamas seem to have lost legitimacy in the eyes of many, if not most, Palestinian Arabs.