Let's pretend that Binyamin Netanyahu went in front of the Knesset and declared, "Jerusalem is a Jewish city, the heart of the Jewish nation, and If Jerusalem does not remain in Jewish hands, there will never be peace."
How many op-eds would be written by the next news cycle castigating the Israeli premier for making such a statement? People would say that this proves he is a warmonger, openly sabotaging the peace process and intentionally provoking the entire Arab world. Any terror attacks that follow would have this "context" mentioned, as the media would be quick to label Arab violence as a reaction to Netanyahu's intransigence.
Yet on Wednesday, Mahmoud Abbas said
"Jerusalem is the heart of the Palestinian cause, and unless Jerusalem is the capital of an independent Palestinian state, there will not be peace."
This was reported, without the least bit of embarrassment, by the official Palestinian Arab news agency, Wafa as well as on the Ministry of Information website. And Abbas says this practically every day.
Isn't this the exactly the same as a Mafia-style protection racket? Doesn't it sound suspiciously like "Do what we want, and no one will get hurt."
And then when they get what they want - they ask for more.
