The Associated Press is reporting that the Palestinian Authority is planning “calm” rallies for September, when the entity will make its bid at the United Nations for world recognition as an independent nation.
The AP article, written by Mohammed Daraghmeh, notes that the demonstrations are to be carried out worldwide – in the PA territories “and abroad.” Daraghmeh adds that talks with Israel that should have led to a final status agreement have been stalled for most of the past three years “and there is no sign the two sides can agree on conditions to resume them.”
He does not point out that it was the Palestinian Authority that refused to negotiate as soon as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu entered office. Nor does he mention that the PA has consistently chosen to avoid resuming talks without first demanding that Israel agree to all of its demands prior to even reaching the table.
Daraghmeh interviewed Adnan Dameri, spokesman for the PA security forces, who told him that “all necessary measures” are being taken to prevent violence from erupting at the demonstrations.
However, it is also clear from Daraghmeh's article that measures have been taken to ensure that maximum disruption will be enforced in every possible country where PA Arabs reside.
Organizer Hassan Balawi told the AP the rallies are to begin in early September and will “peak” on September 21, when PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas addresses the United Nations General Assembly.
PA security forces hope to prevent demonstrators within its territory from flooding IDF checkpoints and Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria. They also plan to prevent “mass charges on Israeli border points,” although there is no clear indication of how or if that could be done.
Daraghmeh also points out that Gaza, originally considered to be part of the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords, is no longer really part of the Ramallah-administered territory.
“A wild card in the deck is Gaza, run by the Islamic militant Hamas, not the Palestinian Authority. Hamas is disdainful of the U.N. initiative and is seen unlikely to organize protests to support it, but if violence erupts... Gaze could be expected to follow,” he notes.
Still, Dameri told Daraghmeh that the PA has no interest in promoting violence against Israel at this point. “The conclusion we drew from the previous uprising is that violence serves Israeli interest, not our interests,” he said.
However, not all PA leaders appear to be on the same page.
Imprisoned Tanzim terrorist head Marwan Barghouti, who serves even from the jail as a member of the PA's parliament, the Palestinian Legislative Council, told an Egyptian news service this week that a veto by the United States against U.N. recognition of PA statehood would be a “historic, deadly mistake.
Bargouti, who is also a member of Abbas' Fatah faction, added that such a veto “will be confronted by millions' strong protests throughout the Arab and Muslim world – indeed, throughout the whole world,” according to the AFP news agency.
Last month Barghouti called on “millions” of PA Arabs in a letter published in the Al Quds newspaper to march in mass rallies in Judea, Samaria and Gaza to support the PA bid for U.N. recognition as a state.
The PA folk hero is serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison for multiple terrorist murders of innocent civilians in Israel.
Israeli Arab Knesset Member Hanin Zoabi (Balad party) also issued a statement in an Israeli newspaper earlier this year expressing her hopes for a third intifada. Zoabi, who has participated in the illegal foreign flotilla attempts to breach Israel's maritime blockade of Gaza, predicted last summer that a third intifada was on the horizon.
Israel's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman warned Sunday that the PA is planning to attack Israel with “bloodshed on a scale we haven't seen” in September. He urged the government to sever all ties with the entity, which is currently engaged in a lawfare attempt to prosecute IDF officers and soldiers at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.