Mohammad al-Madani, a close associate of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and head of the Committee for Interaction with Israeli Society, met with Israelis of Iraqi heritage at the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center in Or Yehuda Wednesday.
Speaking to the gathering, al-Madani expanded on the Passover greetings he extended to Israel days previously with a message of warning, saying that in the days after Abbas leaves his position, "the idea of peace might slip away."
"We Palestinians, both in the leadership and the people, many fear the day that Abbas ends his ministry," he said. "(We are afraid that) the idea of peace and the peace plans will elude us. May God prolong his (Abbas') life, but it will end naturally or maybe otherwise," he ended, without expanding on what or who may intend to threaten the PA president's life.
Another member of the delegation, Dr. Ziad Darwish, said openly that after Abbas there will be no partner for peace for Israel to deal with, and therefore it's necessary and prudent for Israel to hurry up and advance the peace process.
The Palestinian delegation brought three gifts to their hosts: two giant images of Baghdad from the first half of the 20th century, and authentic sweets from Iraq brought by a special messenger from the country.
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I think the word "threat" does not describe correctly the published text of the comments made by the Palestine Arab delegation.
ReplyDeleteNot a threat? Really? I and I am sure many others will consider the words below to be definitely a threat. The JPost reporter sensed correctly that Madani was giving a "warning." But in this sort of situation, a warning is a threat: If you don't make peace on our terms now, then you will face an unpeaceful situation after Abbas is out of office. That's a threat. It is time for Ben to stop being naive. Moreover, we know the history, the record, of Abbas and the Fatah and PLO. They might sign a peace treaty, but only on their terms, if at all. We have been there before.
ReplyDelete"Speaking to the gathering, al-Madani expanded on the Passover greetings he extended to Israel days previously with a message of warning, saying that in the days after Abbas leaves his position, "the idea of peace might slip away."
"We Palestinians, both in the leadership and the people, many fear the day that Abbas ends his ministry," he said. "(We are afraid that) the idea of peace and the peace plans will elude us. May God prolong his (Abbas') life, but it will end naturally or maybe otherwise," he ended, without expanding on what or who may intend to threaten the PA president's life.
Another member of the delegation, Dr. Ziad Darwish, said openly that after Abbas there will be no partner for peace for Israel to deal with, and therefore it's necessary and prudent for Israel to hurry up and advance the peace process."
The Palestinians will suffer very much more from a ratcheting of violence and the absence of peace than Israel, and both al-Madani and Darwish are intelligent enough to realize this. Their statement is perhaps a warning but not a threat, since it is a description of the political constellation under Abbas and after Abbas, as they see it. It would be naive to pretend that Palestine Arab leaders have not been egregiously devious and insincere in the past, and it is very likely that they will on occasion be so also in the future. I am certainly not guilty of not realizing that!
ReplyDeleteThe Palestine Arabs by themselves are not now, nor will they in the future be, in a position to threaten Israel. The US might, though.
What you are saying , is objectively true, Ben. The Palestinians do suffer from Lack of peace. But it is a price they are willing to pay. In this case, I think they are telling Israel ' submit to our demands for it.s the best deal you will get'. Eliyahu is right, it is peace on their terms.
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