Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud AbbasSTF/Flash 90

A senior Palestinian Authority official said yesterday (Monday), that if he saw an Israeli he'd "slit his throat," and encouraged others to do the same.

The official is Fatah Central Committee member and adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, Sultan Abu al-Einein. 

In an interview with the Al Watan site discussing the matter of normalization of relations with Israel and the talks currently ongoing between Israeli and Palestinian Authority representatives, the Fatah member said: "I am against discussions, talks, meetings, and any kind of normalization with the Israeli occupiers." 

He also commented on meetings with Israelis being attended by other members of Fatah, such as Ahmad al-Majdalani, another Fatah Central committee member, and Muhammad al-Madani, head of the committee for interaction with the Israelis. 

"If Abu Mazen [Abbas], tries to make me participate in meetings that include Jews I will forcefully refuse. I will not have any interaction with Israeli society unless I get kidnapped by extremist settlers," said Abu al-Einein. He added that he doesn't have anything against his colleagues who do attend such meeting, and commented on the requirement for Palestinian officials to obtain special transit visas. "The fact that we are in need of special documentation to allow us to pass through the checkpoints shows that we live in dark times." 

“If you ask me my blunt position, I would say — every place you find an Israeli, slit his throat. Likewise, I am against talks, negotiations, meetings, and normalization in all its forms with the Israeli occupation.”

Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Major-General Poli Mordechai, commented on al-Einiein's words on his Facebook page, writing: "How short is the distance between wild incitement and acts of terror, and how is it that the lives of Judea and Samaria residents hang in the balance of one irresponsible tongue."

Mordechai reached out to Palestinian Authority residents, saying that "in the Middle East of the summer of 2016, this kind of talk doesn't stay in the realm of the symbolic or rhetorical. In our area there is a short distance between these kind of irresponsible remark and terrorist in the field who understand that there is legitimization from the leadership for an act of terror they're about to carry out. The distance between that and a deep destabilization of your way of life is shorter still."

The Major-General called upon Palestinian society, and especially its leadership, to denounce such remarks that" bring Ramallah closer to Raqqa and Mosul", referring to cities controlled by ISIS, and instead to call for dialogue and tolerance. 

These comments from a senior Palestinian Authority official come on the heels of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' wild accusation that Israeli Rabbis had demanded that the Israeli government poison wells to kill Palestinians. This accusation has been dubbed "a blood-libel" by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.