Even as attempts continue to get the Palestinian Authority to sit down for talks with Israel, and while it is lauded for agreeing to (no more than) four months of indirect talks as suggested by the Arab League, the PA continues its fight against Israel on several fronts.
Leading PA figures such as prime minister Salam Fayyad, portrayed as a “moderate pragmatist” in the West, continue to support Arab violence in Judea and Samaria.
This past weekend, Fayyad appeared at a public protest of the "Popular Resistance Committees Against the Fence and the Settlements” – the body that organizes the frequently-violent weekly protests at Bil’in and elsewhere. Fayyad praised the organizers’ work against the Israeli “occupation,” sharply condemning Israel in the process.
Also this past Saturday, an anti-Israel protest was graced with the presence of another top PA member, Abbas Zaki, the PA’s former representative in Lebanon. Speaking at the event north of Bethlehem, he blamed Israel for trying to “steal the cultural legacy of the Palestinian nation and take over additional lands in [Judea and Samaria].” As has been often noted, the “Palestinian nation” goes back about four decades, whereas the Jewish nation’s history is roughly 100 times longer.
The PA is also warring with Israel on the economic front, calling actively for a boycott of Israeli-made goods – and especially those made in the Jewish towns of Judea and Samaria. Imams have been asked to highlight the subject in their upcoming sermons, and next Monday will be marked in the PA as “National Boycott Day of Settlement-Made Produce.”
A door-to-door campaign will be conducted, explaining the “importance of boycotting the Jewish products.” It is not known if the home visits will include searches for the products.
Using a Crash
Six members of one PA Arab family were killed on Friday when their car crashed into a military vehicle near Ramallah and Ofrah. The Arab car was speeding and one of its tires exploded; four Israeli soldiers were lightly injured. Fatah spokesman Asama Alkawasme attempted to portray the crash as purposely perpetrated by Israel, and said that Israel constantly attempts to draw the region into violence in order to “evade its diplomatic obligations.”
Senior PLO figure Yasser Abed Rabbo said that several Arab countries have already withdrawn their support for the indirect talks with Israel, because of Israel's decision to build 1,600 new apartments in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Similar incidents as the above have been used as excuses for the breakout of "intifadas" in past years, generally after the PA refused to accept Israeli offers at the negotiating table.