"Moderate" Abbas taunts Hamas as being too peaceful

Mahmoud Abbas was interviewed in Arabic by the BBC last night, and he proved yet again that the oft-used appellation "moderate" is a misnomer.

The Israeli press is reporting on some of his more outrageous statements.

"Those who have to resist are the people, and there are different types of resistance, like in (West Bank villages of) Bilin and Naalin, where people are injured every day"

Protests that happen in Bilin and Na'alin (weekly, not daily) are anything but peaceful, and IDF soldiers often get injured from the violence.

Even more outrageously, Abbas taunts Hamas for stopping rocket attacks against Israel:

"Hamas talks about the importance of resistance, but why aren't they resisting now. There is a truce between them and Israel, and since the war in Gaza Hamas has not carried out any act of resistance."

Abbas went on to accuse Hamas of negotiating with Israel over final status issues, including accepting temporary borders.

The Arabic reports of the interview show that Abbas actually contrasted the two points, first saying that Hamas has abandoned resistance even while talking about it incessantly and then proudly saying that the West Bank Arabs are doing real resistance. He accused Hamas of attempting to deceive Gazans with its slogans of resistance, noting that "you can fool some of the people some of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

When asked why the Netanyahu government was allegedly secretly negotiating with Hamas and not with Abbas' PA, Abbas again placed himself as being more intransigent than Hamas, responding haughtily in third person,

Because Mahmoud Abbas wants the 1967 borders, in full, and wanted to solve the refugee problem on the basis of international resolutions, wants Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state, and wants a solution of water, and illegal settlements.

On the other hand, even while Abbas taunted Hamas for stopping rocket fire, he rejected the "militarization" of resistance, acknowledging that such a move is not in the interests of the people.

He claimed that he was a "man of peace" and that he refused to fight Hamas in Gaza because of his supposed pacifism!

Gazans who aren't happy living under Hamas' regime, take note of how Abbas is bragging about abandoning you to the Islamists.

UPDATE: A Nazareth newspaper says that the Fatah Central Committee is calling for a "third intifada" centered around demonstrations (and presumably Bilin-style projectiles,) and that Abbas is supporting it.