PA negotiator Erekat
PA negotiator ErekatIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat has accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of inciting Arab violence by telling the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that Israel will continue to build for Jews in Jerusalem.

His comments came two days after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned threatening Arab reactions to the dedication of the restored Hurva synagogue in the Old City in Jerusalem.

“Israel once again has turned to violent actions against our Palestinian people,” Erekat told the Saudi newspaper Ukaz. “The move is intended to inflame the tensions on the street and is not in line with international efforts to resume the peace process. Netanyahu crushes all hope for progress in negotiations and ignores the international community’s calls for Israel to stop building” for Jews in Jerusalem areas that the Palestinian Authority claims as the future capital of a new PA state.

As part of the Palestinian Authority strategy for a world-wide front against Israel, the United Nations on Wednesday is beginning a two-day seminar in Vienna under the theme “building institutions and moving forward with establishing the state of Palestine.”

Erekat also said the PA has not yet decided whether to agree to resume the process of negotiations with American-mediated talks, pending Israeli acceptance of PA and American demands that it halt building projects for Jews in Jerusalem. He said that the PA is waiting for the Obama administration to respond with Israel’s official answer to the demand for a total building freeze, which Prime Minister Netanyahu has publicly rejected.

Late last year, the Prime Minister agreed to halt new building projects for Jews in Judea and Samaria as a “goodwill” measure to prompt PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to resume talks. Abbas refused, but Israel this week made a further concession by agreeing that both sides can bring up all issues for discussion, including the status of Jerusalem.

Erekat’s accusations that Israel is inciting Arabs also referred to an IDF counterterrorist action last Saturday that prevented an attack on Jews in Samaria. Erekat claimed that the two young terrorists “were detained while working on their land” and that "Israel is again resorting to deadly violence against Palestinians in a deliberate move to further incite and inflame tensions on the ground.”