Palestinian Authority Officials Are Saying One Thing In Arabic, And Another In English

Khaled Abu Toameh reports that a "number of senior Palestinian officials who do not have much credibility among their own people are now trying to sell themselves to Israelis as 'partners for peace.' This is the same group of Palestinians who in the past advised Yasser Arafat to reject then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak's offer during the botched Camp David summit in 2000. They were among Arafat's inner circle when he walked out of the Camp David summit and initiated the 'Second Intifada.' These are also the same officials who, back then, justified the eruption of the intifada as a 'natural response' to Israel's refusal to comply with 100% of the Palestinians' demands. Saeb Erekat, Jibril Rajoub and Yasser Abed Rabbo are now trying to persuade the Israeli public that Israel does have partners for peace on the Palestinian side. And who are the new-old partners? Erekat, Rajoub and Abed Rabbo, of course. With the help of US taxpayers' dollars, the three, together with other Palestinian officials, are sending their 'peace' messages to the Israelis in English. The campaign, according to Palestinians, is being funded by the US Agency for International Development [USAID].The campaign targets only the Israeli public. No similar messages are being sent to the Palestinians despite promises that they would.... In just the past week, Palestinian Authority officials have even escalated their rhetoric by issuing daily threats to withdraw from the US-sponsored direct talks that were launched in Washington last week. In Arabic, Mahmoud Abbas and his top officials are telling Palestinians that they would never make 'even one concession' to Israel during the peace talks. In Arabic, they are saying that they will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state; will never relinquish the right of return of millions of refugees to Israel, and will never make any compromises on Jerusalem." Tweet