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The Palestinian Authority’s Goal Is Still to Destroy Israel
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appoints Mohammad Mustafa as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA), in Ramallah, in the West Bank March 14, 2024 in this handout image. Photo: Palestinian president office/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
While the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah pretend to the world that they would be content with a Palestinian state within the June 4, 1967, borders — living in peace, side by side with Israel — they have a different message when addressing the Arab/Palestinian public.
In talking to their own people, their goal echoes former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s “stages plan,” which meant that Palestinians would conquer Israel bit by bit.
Still today, PA/Fatah leaders believe the way to destroy Israel is to agree to a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders as a first step, leaving Israel with indefensible borders. Then they plan to demand/conquer more Israeli land over time, until all of Israel has become “Palestine.”
Recently, a Fatah official said explicitly that the 1967 borders “are not the Palestinian demand and not the final right,”a different wording for the stages plan:
Fatah official and An-Najah National University political science lecturer Raed Debiy: “We once again remind that [UN] Resolutions 242 and 338 and the establishment of a Palestinian state in the June 4, 1967 borders are not the Palestinian demand and not the final right [of the Palestinians], but rather this is the logical and realistic thing that we have agreed to on the basis of the international community’s demand.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Oct. 9, 2024]
That Palestinian leaders envision the entire State of Israel as “Palestine” — and don’t recognize Israel’s right to exist in any borders — has been documented by Palestinian Media Watch for almost three decades.
The slogan “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free,” which has become popular around the world, is the short and accurate expression of this ideology seeking the destruction of all of Israel. Another way of saying that all of Israel is illegitimate is to say that the “occupation” has lasted “76 years” — i.e., since the establishment of Israel in 1948.
A spokesman of Fatah stressed that Fatah doesn’t recognize Israel’s right to exist at all, stating that “the Palestinian struggle against the occupation” has been going on for “76 years”:
Released terrorist and Fatah Spokesman Abd Al-Fattah Doleh: “The history of the Palestinian struggle has lasted 100 years, together with the British occupation, and 76 years against this criminal occupation [i.e., Israel], but the Palestinian people is not surrendering.”
[Official PA TV, Oct. 10, 2024]
During the current Gaza war, the PA has begged Hamas to join the PLO, and one Fatah official stressed that recognizing Israel is not a condition to join at all, neither for Hamas, nor for Fatah:
Fatah Revolutionary Council member Jamal Nazzal: “Now they [Hamas] need to say that the one who can save us is the PLO. The one who can save us is the plan of Palestinian [PA] President [Abbas], the plan of the PLO. This is not a reduction in the value of Hamas … It is only required to say ‘Let’s leave the matter in the PLO’s hands. Let’s leave this matter in the hands of President Mahmoud Abbas. …
Official PA TV host: “Are we close to the moment when the Hamas Movement and Islamic Jihad Movement will join the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of our people? …
Jamal Nazzal: “We need to eliminate Israel’s excuses and say: ‘Now we are in the framework of the PLO’s plan.’ This does not constitute a call on Hamas to concede on its plan or recognize Israel. There is no prerogative or obligation on Hamas or Fatah to recognize Israel, we just have to honor the PLO’s commitment.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, Feb. 25, 2024]
Fatah Revolutionary Council member and regular columnist for the official PA daily, Muwaffaq Matar, also stressed that Fatah never has recognized Israel:
Muhammad Nazzal — the deputy of one of the many heads of Hamas, the armed branch of the [Muslim Brotherhood] organization in Palestine — appeared in a TV interview … and said: “Hamas’ argument with the PLO and the PA is not political, but rather stems from Hamas’ refusal to recognize Israel”! He continued … and said that “the PLO and the Fatah Movement demand that Hamas recognize Israel’! But how could it be that Fatah would ask his organization Hamas to do what Fatah has not done at all?” [emphasis added]
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 11, 2024]
As its ruling party Fatah, the PLO also still seeks Israel’s destruction after 76 years of “occupation”:
Head of PLO Department of Human Rights, Qassem Awad: “Under the leadership of the PLO, we stand firmly on the Palestinian principles, which our people have never given up on during more than 76 years of occupation, that is the length of time of the ongoing crime against the Palestinian people.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, March 3, 2024]
Similarly, top PA official Jibril Rajoub described Hamas’ terror war against Israel as a “defense” against the “76-year-old occupation”:
Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “What happened on Oct. 7 [2023] is part of a war of defense that the Palestinian people is waging against this occupation, in response to the Israeli crimes that are a continuation of the same crimes that are 76 years old today, which is the age of this occupation, against all of Palestine and the Palestinians.” [emphasis added]
[Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub, Facebook page, Jan. 17, 2024]
That all of Israel is “Palestine” is also the message fed to young Palestinian athletes.
A national coach told his athletes that Israeli cities of Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa, and Acre are part of “the Palestinian entirety”:
Palestinian national youth team coach: “Today we are the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Today we are Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa, and Acre (i.e., all Israeli cities). Today we are Hebron, Bethlehem, and Ramallah. Today we are Nablus, Tulkarem, and Qalqilya. Today we are proud Jenin… Today we are the diaspora and the Interior (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel). Today we are the Palestinian entirety.”
[Radio Mawtini (Fatah radio station), Facebook page, Sept. 23, 2024]
It is about time that the international community that continues to push Israel to accept the PA as rulers of Gaza, recognize that the PA’s rejectionism is alive and well, and that when it comes to final goals, the PA seeks the same as Hamas — the only difference is tactical.
The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.
The post The Palestinian Authority’s Goal Is Still to Destroy Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
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