Fatwa: Palestinian Arabs may not compromise with Israel

A religious council called the "Palestinian Scholars Association" has given a legal ruling that it is forbidden to ask real Palestinian Arabs to vote for compromise with Israel. From PalToday (Arabic):

Palestine Scholars Association said "it may not in any way resort to a referendum if it is a virtue, about the fixed legitimate right of God or public rights of the nation."

A copy of the fatwas received today states that "one cannot accept the judgment as is the case in Palestine in the right of return and self determination, or waive a portion of the land of Palestine or of the sacred Islamic shrines, or coordination with the enemy to strike the resistance."

It went on to say "that the presentation of these rights and fold the referendum, represents a betrayal of God and His Prophet and the believers and the homeland."

We've seen this sort of thing before. Palestinian Arab religious and political leaders know that their people are not nearly as interested in destroying Israel as in just gaining normal lives for their families, and that their nationalism is very weak, so they impose artificial limitations on the people's rights in order to shore up their true goals.

This is why Abbas is so much against Lebanese citizenship for hundreds of thousands of his people stuck in camps there. This is why Hamas is against any compromise that allows Israel to exist. They know that a large number of Palestinian Arabs would be happy to move elsewhere if given the chance, and they desperately want to make sure that they aren't given that chance.