Erekat justifies luxury travel as best way to delegitimize Israel

Ma'an reported:

Israeli state media reported on Sunday that a number of senior Palestinian Authority officials spend more time abroad than in Palestine.

The report, published on the Israeli Broadcasting Authority's website Reshet Bet, alleged that some Palestinian officials spend 150 to 170 days in "fancy hotels" abroad every year.

The report gave details for 10 senior PA officials, including President Mahmoud Abbas, Jibril Rajoub and Saeb Erekat.

It said that Abbas spent 166 days abroad in 2013 and 188 days in 2012.

Erekat and Rajoub, meanwhile, reportedly spent 150 to 170 days abroad in each of those years.

The report ...questioned how there could be so much travel despite "financial hardships we have been hearing about for some time."

But Saeb Erekat defended himself:

PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Reshet Bet report on Palestinian Authority officials' days spent abroad is a “cheap” Israeli technique, and is a proved of the success of the PA’s diplomatic efforts.

His statement came shortly after the Israeli state media website reported on Sunday that a number of senior PA officials spend more time abroad than in Palestine, with some spending 150 to 170 days in "fancy hotels" abroad every year.

Erekat told local radio station Raya that the numbers published by the Israeli news source are correct, saying that “we work around the clock in all five continents to defend our cause and expose the Israeli crimes against our people."

"The Palestinian leadership roams the world so the world can listen to our narrative from us and not the Israeli narrative on us," he added.

Senior Fatah official, Nabil Shaath told Raya that Israel deliberately used the information for the purpose of defamation, referring to the alleged move as an “old Mossad trick.”

It is telling that the primary purpose of Erekat's travels is to delegitimize Israel. Also to tell people things like his family's bogus 9,000 year old history in an area that they never lived. 

So, pretty much his job is to travel the world to lie, often on the Western world's dime.

Not that this is any surprise.