Saeb Erekat admits he is a Jordanian Bedouin, not a "Canaanite"

On February 2, after Saeb Erekat claimed to be descended from 10,000 year old Canaanites, I was the first to show that his family actually came from the Huwaitat tribe which was on the Arabian peninsula, between what is now Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Apparently, an Israeli columnist at Israel Hayom mentioned this as well a week later, and the Arab media picked up on it.  (Here is a case where Arab media was more aggressive than Western media in confronting Erekat on his lies.)

So Erekat responded that, sure, he is a Jordanian and a Bedouin and he is proud of it.

The head of the PLO’s negotiations department, Saeb Erekat said: “It is an honor for me to be a Bedouin and to be a Jordanian.”

This was said in an interview he gave to the Dunya Al-Watan newspaper, answering rumors spread by Hebrew newspapers. He (Erekat) added: ”The Israelis said that my mother was Jewish, and they accused me of having a relationship with Livni."

The top Palestinian negotiator said: “It is an honor for me to be a Bedouin, an Arab and a Jordanian. I have a special feeling that Allah bestowed an honor upon me and gave me a gift for which I thank him, namely that I was born a Palestinian. I was born a Palestinian only as a gift from Allah”.

He added: “We were born Palestinian so we can regain Palestine with Eastern Jerusalem as its capital city.”

Reuven Berko, the political analyst at the “Israel Hayom” newspaper said: “Erekat is a Jordanian Bedouin from the Huweytat tribe, and not a Palestinian.”

He's a Jordanian/Bedouin/Canaanite/Palestinian/Arab, so he can pick and choose whichever self-definition he finds more appropriate at any point in time. There is nothing "Palestinian" about him except an accident of where he was born.

What a liar.

What a "negotiating partner."

(h't Ibn Boutros)