Pages

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Abbas for new intifada in Arabic, against it in English

Mahmoud Abbas had an interview in yesterday's Wall Street Journal where he said, among other things:
I will not allow a new intifada. As long as I'm in office, I will not allow anybody to start a new intifada. Never never.
Yet just last month, in Arabic, the Fatah Central Committee that he leads called for a third intifada, and there were reports that Abbas himself called for a third intifada (without arms but with stones.) The original link to Palestine Today is gone but I found reference to it from a pro-Palestinian Arab op-ed here, where the author admits that stone-throwing is a typical feature of the Nil'in and Bilin protests that Abbas is supporting. This is a far cry from "Never never."

Abbas has learned well from Arafat to say things differently in Arabic and English.