Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Erekat

Showing posts with label Erekat. Show all posts

Friday, December 17, 2010

Erekat declares US Congress "an obstacle to peace"

Chief Palestinian Negotiator, Dr. Saeb Erakat, stated on Friday that he “deeply regrets” the resolution passed by the United States House of Representatives opposing international efforts at resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

“We have devoted ourselves to negotiations for nearly two decades and today we are trapped in a framework that thus far has not yet lifted the occupation. Unlike the Israeli government, which is comfortable with the status quo of occupation and continued colonization, the Palestinian people must seek their freedom through any peaceful channel available to us.” Erakat said in a press statement today.

Just as a reminder, no less a leader than Mahmoud Abbas said last year "in the West Bank we have a good reality . . . the people are living a normal life."

“The U.S. Congress has placed one more obstacle towards achieving peace between Palestine and Israel....Israel has done nothing but sabotage the efforts of the Obama administration to restart meaningful negotiations by refusing to freeze settlement expansion and negotiate based on clear terms of reference. Through the passage of this resolution, the US Congress is contradicting the policy of the American government to create a Palestinian state by hindering the ability of the Palestinians to navigate around the Israeli government’s obstructionist policies."

Just as another reminder, the PA refused to negotiate during the last building freeze until the very end, under pressure from the US. And the demand for a settlement freeze as a precondition to negotiations is a brand new tactic that did not exist before the PA perceived a White House that would pressure Israel for them.

So who is adhering to obstructionist policies?

Saeb Erekat's lies in CiF

Saeb Erekat, that Palestinian Arab negotiator who the West feels is so moderate because he wears suits and not army fatigues, has once again called for the destruction of Israel - this time in the pages of the Guardian's Comment is Free column.

He couches his demand to the end of the Jewish state in terms of the specious arguments that descendants of Palestinian Arabs who fled in 1948 have a "right to return" to the homes of their ancestors.

Here are some of his lies:

Israel's own admission as a member to the United Nations was contingent on its adherence to the principles of UNGA 194, something it proceeded to disregard once membership was granted.

While the resolution granting Israel's membership in the UN mentions UNGA 194, in no way does it say that it is contingent on it:

Recalling its resolutions of 29 November 1947 and 11 December 1948 and taking note of the declarations and explanations made by the representative of the Government of Israel before the Ad Hoc Political Committee in respect of the implementation of the said resolutions,

The General Assembly,

Acting in discharge of its functions under Article 4 of the Charter and rule 125 of its rules of procedure,

1. Decides that Israel is a peace loving State which accepts the obligations contained in the Charter and is able and willing to carry out those obligations;

2. Decides to admit Israel to membership in the United Nations.

While I cannot find the specific "declarations and explanations" noted at the moment, Israel's interpretation of 194 at the time was clear - no "return" of Arab refugees could be contemplated until there was a comprehensive peace and until the Arabs who return were willing to "live at peace with their neighbours", a UNGA 194 condition that was never met. The idea that Israel's admittance was somehow conditional is clearly a blatant lie.

The lies continue. Erekat says that "Palestinian refugees [are] the oldest and largest refugee community in the world today." The fact is that the vast majority are not refugees, but descendants of refugees, and that designation was created for them by UNRWA for practical reasons as a working definition but not as a legal definition. If they are legal refugees, then so are hundreds of millions of other people.

The lies continue:

The fact that Israel bears responsibility for the creation of the refugees is beyond argument. Even if the state still claims amnesia for its deeds, Israeli historians have debunked the traditional Zionist mythology and shown how Zionist leaders prior to 1948 formulated plans to displace the indigenous Palestinian population in order to create a Jewish majority state.

While there is a tiny amount of truth to this - plans are created for a lot of situations - there was no actual implementation of any such plans. The vast majority of Palestinian Arabs fled out of fear, not from force; their leaders fled early quite voluntarily leaving the masses without any anchor in the land. They fled because they thought that their Arab neighbors would allow them to resettle or stay until the Jews would be destroyed, but their fleeing showed that their attachment to the land was far more tenuous than the Jews who had no choice but to stay and fight, or die.

The lies continue:

Resolution 194 must provide the basis for a settlement to the refugee issue.

Resolution 194 was a General Assembly resolution, not legally binding. It also required that the Jerusalem area be under UN control - something ignored by Arabs. It does not specify only Arab refugees - in its language, Jews should have been allowed to return to their homes in the Old City and Gush Etzion and elsewhere - a provision rejected by Arabs even today. The entire resolution has no legal validity whatsoever in any peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs, as Israel argued in 1999:

The letters of invitation to the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991 and the Oslo Agreements signed between Israel and the PLO expressly provide that permanent status negotiations are to be based on Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973). No other United Nations resolution is cited. The Palestinians have thus affirmed that a permanent solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be achieved by a negotiated settlement in West Bank and Gaza Strip territory that is the subject of those Security Council resolutions.

Other provisions of UNGA 194 were roundly ignored by the Arabs as well, such as free access to holy places. It is the Arab actions no less than anyone else that made 194 irrelevant.

Erekat's final lie is that masses of so-called refugees flooding Israel "will lead to a lasting peace." On the contrary, it would lead to the kind of internal terrorism that Palestine suffered before Israel was established, where thousands of people were slaughtered while Jews were a minority.

The entire issue is a ruse meant to destroy the Jewish state, and when the most "moderate" Palestinian Arab leaders are still publicly calling to dismantle Israel by demographic means, it shows that their stated desire for a two-state solution with both states living side by side in peace is an utter sham.

This article also proves that Palestinian Arab rejectionism is not merely a tactical move to improve their negotiating position, but an absolute rejection of Israel as anything other than yet another Arab state. This is the mainstream position of so-called "moderate" Palestinian Arabs, not a fringe extremist position. If the West is serious about a real peace - something that seems literally impossible given such intransigence - it needs to insist that Palestinian Arab leaders admit, publicly, that Israel is not where descendants of Palestinian Arabs who fled in 1948 will live and that they need to be absorbed in Arab countries instead of being the victims of institutional discrimination in every single Arab country as they are today.

That is the issue that Erekat and his ilk studiously avoid mentioning, and it proves beyond all doubt that they do not give a damn about their people but rather want to continue using them as pawns in their six-decade old, single-minded goal of destroying Israel.

Erekat creates "The Zionist Grinch Who Stole Palestinian Arab Christmas"

From Ma'an:

"The Israel Ministry of Tourism has hijacked Christmas for political purposes," Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erakat said Thursday, denouncing the occupying nation for hosting a pre-Christmas reception in East Jerusalem.

The reception, set for 6 December, will see diplomats, heads of churches and other community members gather in the city to mark the start of the holiday season.

"This is yet another display of the lengths that Israel is willing to go to distract the world from its policies of dispossession against the Palestinian people," the official said in a statement, on the one hand hosting events to celebrate the Christian holiday, while on the other continuing to "sever the ancient link between Jerusalem and Bethlehem through the construction of the Wall and the expansion of settlements surrounding Bethlehem, including Har Homa and Gilo."

The isolation of Jerusalem from its West Bank neighbors, separating holy sites, families and religious networks was condemned by Erekat, who said "we seek an open Jerusalem as the capital of two states, where free access to all holy sites is guaranteed."

In contrast, he added, "Israel continues its plan to make Jerusalem an exclusive Jewish city."

Yes, those wily Israelis are making Jerusalem exclusively Jewish by holding Christmas events there.

And look how much Erekat is decrying the supposed severing "the ancient link between Jerusalem and Bethlehem" when his entire political career is based on severing the ancient Jewish link between Hebron, Shechem, Bet El, Shiloh, and even the Western Wall from the rest of the Jewish state.

Erekat apologizes for seeming to apologize to Jews

Predictably, Saeb Erekat is in hot water with Palestinian Arabs over making his deceptive video for the Geneva Initiative where he pretends to be more peaceful than he is while addressing the Israeli people.

As we've seen before, Erekat (along with other PA officials) is a master at saying the exact opposite things in English and Arabic.

In the video, he starts off by saying, "“Shalom to you in Israel, I know we have disappointed you, I know we have been unable to deliver peace for the last 19 years."

Palestinian Arabs thought that this sounded way too close to being an apology, and they criticized him heavily.

So how does Erekat justify his words? He says that, even though this message was broadcast to the Israeli people and he used the word "we," he was only talking on behalf of both Israeli and Palestinian Arab negotiators, not on behalf of anyone else:

Unfortunately, my words are being interpreted as being said on behalf of the Palestinians to the Israeli people, which completely contradicts what I meant and what I believe. This interpretation is flawed and inconsistent with the operative part of my speech. I was talking to a negotiator and meant that we as negotiators, the Palestinians and Israelis alike, have disappointed [our people] as we have not been able to reach an agreement to end the conflict, despite the long years of negotiations.

I never thought for one moment to apologize to the Israelis on behalf of the Palestinian people, a people who suffer daily from the various policies of occupation and displacement and humiliation and [who themselves are] deserving of an apology.

I'm sure that the Geneva Initiative will issue a clarifying press release.

Erekat vs. Erekat - which one do you believe?

From JPost:

Israel and the Palestinian Authority have agreed on the “core issues” that will be discussed during their direct talks, Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian chief negotiator, said over the weekend.

Erekat claimed that PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu agreed at their meeting in Washington on Thursday that the peace talks would be resumed from the point where they were stopped two years ago under then-prime minister Ehud Olmert.

From YNet:

Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat said Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to apply stall tactics to negotiations, and that all of his suggestions thus far have been rejected by the PA.

Erekat told Jordan's al-Dustour Newspaper that the Israeli prime minister suggested forming 12 committees dedicated to the various issues of the peace process, but his suggestion was rejected.

The chief Palestinian negotiator said that Netanyahu's "procrastination" has effectively made the peace talks grind to a halt: "There are decisions to be made, so that first and foremost we create a vision," he told the newspaper, adding that such action is the only thing that would allow negotiations to start at the point at which they were left off during the Olmert Administration.

So which Erekat do we believe?

The answer is simple: neither.

Why should we believe any word that comes out of an established liar's mouth?

Saeb Erekat: "I am a liar" (video)

Over the past few days, Israelis have been inundated with a slick advertising campaign, financed by the US and created by the left wing "Geneva Initiative," to convince them that the current government does not want peace and that Palestinian Arabs do.

Here is my take on one of the commercials, starring everyone's favorite liar, Saeb Erekat.

Erekat: Compromise is not "realistic"

From Palestine Press Agency:

Dr. Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that the option of two countries on the borders of June 1967 is the only realistic option of making peace in the Middle East.

In other words, the idea of compromise is anathema. The idea of any Jews living in the West Bank is unrealistic. The idea that a single Jew should remain in the Old City is horrendous and an obstacle to "peace." The very thought that Jews should have free access to their holy places or be able to live in towns on the east side of a border that Arabs rejected before 1967 is simply not "realistic" and therefore must be shot down.

Thus spoke the "moderate."

Erekat stressed that the shortest way to peace is ending the Israeli occupation that began in 1967, and away from a state with provisional borders and a long-term interim agreements.

Because we all remember how peaceful things were between Arabs and Jews before 1967!

Erekat and the "Jewish State"

Ha'aretz has an interesting interview with chief Palestinian Arab liar/hypocrite/negotiator Saeb Erekat where all the questions come from readers around the world. One of his answers is:

Will you ever recognize Israel as a Jewish state? Thank you
Asked by Jon P, from Buffalo, U.S.A.

Saeb Erekat: That's so amazing of Israel. The birth certificate of Israel as embodied in the UN is called the State of Israel so I'm asked to recognize the State of Israel. I'm a Palestinian, Muslim, Christian, I don't think about converting to Judaism or joining the Zionist organization.

I'm not going to call the shots for you. I'm not going to stop you from circumcising your boys, I'm not going to stop you from going to synagogues. You can call yourself whatever you want.

If you want to call yourself the biblical, united, eternal, holy, milk and honey land of Jewish Israel, submit your name to the UN. Your name is the State of Israel. It's unbelievable to ask Palestinians.

It is the Jewish State that called itself Israel, not the UN.

I would argue that the "birth certificate" of Israel from the UN's perspective is United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, which called for a partition of Palestine into two states.

That resolution uses the term "Jewish state," by my count, 30 times.

(h/t Mustafa, who points out that Erekat avoids answering whether the PA would accept a land swap.)

Let's hear Abbas' peace speech

First we heard what Barack Obama had to say about peace in the Middle East. Then we heard Binyomin Netanyahu's vision of peace.

But we have no idea what the Palestinian Arab vision of peace is.

We certainly know that it is utterly incompatible with Israel's:

A top Palestinian official dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policy speech as “a zero” on Sunday.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, the secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee, said the speech was empty of any content and pointless.

He explained that the speech would impede any progress toward a balanced peace settlement. He said Netanyahu is "a swindler, a fraud, and a liar who makes up tricks [about] achievement of this peace."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that he would not resume negotiations with Israel until all construction in the settlements is stopped.

Meanwhile, chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said those who know the Israeli mentality should not be surprised to hear such a speech. He called on the Arab world to take the right stance toward the speech by freezing the Arab Peace Initiative.

All we hear is rejectionism.

It is obvious that the Americans and Israelis should be giving deep thought about peace, its parameters, its limitations and its potential.

So wouldn't it be reasonable to expect the Palestinian Arabs to describe their own, detailed vision of what a peace agreement would look like? Why wouldn't Abbas give a specific plan of how he envisions a peace agreement to work?

The reason is as simple as it is unpalatable to well-meaning Westerners. Palestinian Arab leaders have never wanted real peace with Israel. Their statements have made it abundantly clear that they regard any peace agreement as a temporary step in their quest to claim the entire area between the Mediterranean and the Jordan.

It is time to call their bluff. If they are going to criticize Netanyahu's plan, let them come up with their own plan that they consider realistic. Let us hear Abbas make a public policy statement at a university in the West Bank. If he refuses, perhaps the West will start to realize that he is not serious about peace. If his plan includes flooding Israel with millions of Arabs, if it includes the banning of Jews from visiting holy sites the Old City of Jerusalem and Hebron and Bethlehem and Shechem, if it demands Israel's removing 100% of settlements, if it includes giving PalArabs the rights to fire missiles at Israeli civilian airliners - then the Western world might start to wake up to the fact that a peace process is stillborn without a peace partner who is willing to make compromises.

Abbas has already made clear that he feels no pressure to make any concessions as long as Obama is in office. He is happy to wait as long as it takes. Which means the last thing he wants to do is to make a public statement that could paint himself in a corner.

President Obama can go a long way towards the cause of real peace by demanding that Abbas put forth his plan, not in soundbites but in real detail, a plan that culminates in full relations between Israel and a Palestinian Arab state.

Because his plan would invariably show that he is not the "moderate" he is made out to be.

Erekat shows his hatred for his people

From The Tehran Times:

AMMAN -- Israel is promoting Iranophobia in the Middle East, but the Zionist regime is the real threat to the region not Iran, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said on Saturday.

“I have come to the World Economic Forum to say that Israel is behind the Iranophobia plot and is seeking to depict Iran as the main threat to the security and economy of the region. Everybody should be aware that the only threat in the region is Israel’s occupation and not Iran,” he told the Mehr News Agency correspondent in Shuneh, Jordan.

“Although this meeting is an economic event, as you see, the dispute between Israel and Palestine is the focus of the discussions,” he added.

The 2009 World Economic Forum meeting on the Middle East opened at the Dead Sea port of Shuneh, Jordan on Friday.

He also said, “One might wonder what a Palestinian is doing among businessmen at a meeting on economy. We are here to deliver a message, and that is peace, security, and economic development in the region can only be realized after the end of the Israeli occupation.”

Before the end of the occupation of Palestine, any economic development in the region would be unreal, he noted.

Here we have a classic example of how little Palestinian Arab "leaders" care about their own people, and indeed how "hawks" such as Binyomin Netanyahu care more about ordinary Palestinian Arabs than people who claim to represent them.

Erekat, an accomplished hypocrite and liar, is showing his love for Iran even as many Arab leaders (including Abbas) are increasingly skittish about the mad mullahs who openly support Islamic radicals like Hamas and Hezbollah and oppose obstinately secular movements like Fatah.

Moreover, he is telling his people that they should sit still, continue to take money from the West and do everything they can to avoid prosperity and economic growth because his concept of "peace" is more important than their everyday lives.

This, of course, is all happening at the same time that PA leaders and their relatives grow rich at the expense of these same people with their corruption and nepotism. Apparently, some Palestinian Arabs can take advantage of economic opportunities, as long as they are the right ones in high places. The ones who inexplicably still live in so-called "refugee camps" as well as those who try to make a decent living in Bethlehem and Ramallah must remain patsies of people like Erekat forever, because to him and the rest of their so-called leadership these people are far more valuable as pawns and statistics whose entire purpose is to be used as photo-ops to pressure Israel.

Netanyahu wants to improve the lives of Palestinian Arabs before tackling issues like statehood. One could naively make an argument that the two issues should go forward simultaneously. Erekat's position, however, is that the 61 years of enforced Palestinian Arab misery is an optimal situation and must be prolonged, and his people are only there to be used so he and his fellow "moderate" leaders can continue to make asinine statements like these and still retain the respect of the world.

Saeb Erekat not so "moderate" in Arabic

When he is quoted in the Western press, PA negotiator Saeb Erekat comes across as fully committed to peace and the "peace process."

In Arabic, however, he shows that peace is not at all what he cares about.

From WAFA:

[Saeb Erekat] said during his visit to the province of Salfit today, that there will be no peace without full restoration of our national rights, no peace with the presence of the settlements, and [no peace without] the return and compensation for refugees is a legitimate right to be the return of refugees and the creation of an international mechanism to compensate for the tragedy which they were subjected by the occupation.

In other words, Erekat is saying that unless the PA reaches its current maximal demands, it will keep supporting terror. Negotiations are not a give-and-take; they are a means to gain 100% of Palestinian Arab demands, no less - and if Israel doesn't agree, then there will be terrorism and war, fully supported by the PA, forever.

The current relative lull in terror attacks from Fatah is not because Fatah embraces peace; but it is a tactical move to gain concessions from Israel.

MEMRI translates an earlier interview of Erekat where he implies that the current maximal demands are only the beginning:

"It is true that the negotiations continued for many years, but don’t you know that President Yasser Arafat was besieged at Camp David and was killed unjustly, only because he adhered to Jerusalem, and because he refused to let the Israeli measures on the ground give rise to any [Israeli] right or any [Palestinian] obligation? The Palestinian negotiators could have given in in 1994, 1998, or 2000, and two months ago, brother Abu Mazen [i.e. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud 'Abbas] could have accepted a proposal that talked about Jerusalem and almost 100% of the West Bank, but it is not our goal to score points against one another here.
"Our strategic goal, when we strive for peace, is not to do so at any price. We strive for peace on the basis of an Israeli withdrawal to the June 4, 1967 borders, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip geographically connected." […]
"There will be no peace whatsoever unless East Jerusalem - with every single stone in it - becomes the capital of Palestine.
[…]
"Our survival and steadfastness on this land, our wresting of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital - this is what we can achieve in our generation."[…]

Meaning that in future generations, they will attempt to take more.

And he reveals who has been "obstinate" towards peace:

Israeli prime minister Ehud] Olmert, who talked today about his proposal to Abu Mazen, offered the 1967 borders, but said: 'We will take 6.5% of the West Bank, and give in return 5.8% from the 1948 lands, and the 0.7% will constitute the safe passage, and East Jerusalem will be the capital, but there is a problem with the Haram and with what they called the Holy Basin.' Abu Mazen too answered with defiance, saying: 'I am not in a marketplace or a bazaar. I came to demarcate the borders of Palestine - the June 4, 1967 borders - without detracting a single inch, and without detracting a single stone from Jerusalem, or from the holy Christian and Muslim places.' This is why the Palestinian negotiators did not sign…"

So while the Western press is fixated on Netanyahu's "hawkishness," darling Mahmoud Abbas has shown zero desire to compromise on anything, a position that Erekat fully supports.

This is the so-called "moderate" position of the Palestinian Arabs - a constant war without end as long as Israel does not fully capitulate, and then a lull to be followed by a new war to expel all Jews from "Palestine."

Erekat tells a good joke. Really!

There was a post-Annapolis meeting at the Brookings Institution today, and Saeb Erekat, one of the speakers, made a pretty good joke. Paraphrased from the Foreign Policy blog:

An Israeli and a Palestinian are watching a Western. In the movie, a cowboy is riding bareback on a particularly wild horse. The Israeli says to the Palestinian, "I'll bet you 10 shekels he falls." The Palestinian replies immediately, "I'll bet you he doesn't."

The cowboy falls, and the Palestinian forks over 10 shekels. The Israeli, feeling that famous Israeli guilt, refuses them. Then he admits, "I've seen this movie before."

The Palestinian replies, "So have I. But I thought he would learn from his mistake."

Erekat = Hypocrite

The latest proof that Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the PA, remains a hypocrite and a liar:

Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Monday rejected Israel's demand that the Palestinians acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state.

"There is no country in the world where religious and national identities are intertwined," Erekat told Radio Palestine.

Besides the utter foolishness of such a statement (how about Saudi Arabia? How about Iran?), perhaps it would behoove Erekat to peruse the 2003 Palestinian Constitution, Article 4:

1. Islam is the official religion in Palestine. Respect and sanctity of all other heavenly religions shall be maintained.
2. The principles of Islamic Shari’a shall be the main source of legislation.
3. Arabic shall be the official language.

Previous examples of his lies can be found here and here.

Laughing it up with a liar

From left to right, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, react during a press conference in the West Bank town of Jericho, Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007

Saeb Erekat is one of the most accomplished liars in history, who has said things like "Hamas' running in elections is tantamount to giving up weapons" and "You know, the Jenin refugee camp is no longer in existence…" and "people were massacred. And we say the number will not be less than 500."

In other words, he's a good representative for the Palestinian Arab people. How smart it is to negotiate with a known liar is a different question.

Saeb Erekat, comedian

We all knew what a good liar Saeb Erekat is - but his comedy career is about to get a boost as well:

Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said on Wednesday that he expects Palestinians to overcome the current crisis and that the dangerous deterioration in the Gaza Strip should have a positive affect on the international community and encourage it to enact its responsibilities towards the Palestinian people.

Erekat spoke following a meeting with the EU Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process, Marc Otte, and head of the EU observers at Rafah Crossing, Major-General Pietro Pistolese.

Erekat urged the EU observers to continue their job despite the descent into violent conflict in the Gaza Strip. Erekat said that the Rafah Crossing is the only access point for Gazans to the outside world.

Finally, Erekat stressed the responsibility of the international community towards the Palestinian people and urged the UN and the EU to help the Palestinians and submit more aid to ease the lives of people living in dire conditions in the Palestinian territories.

I wonder what possible circumstances would ever occur that would make Erekat say that the Palestinian Arabs should not get more free money from the civilized world?

UN declares Gaza "dangerous." Erekat upset.

In a society where lies are truth, Saeb Erekat can do this:

Bethlehem - Ma'an - Head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)'s negotiation's department, Dr Saeb Erekat, appealed against the United Nation's classification of the Gaza Strip as one of the world's most dangerous areas.

Erekat said that this labelling "affects Palestinian lives, and economy in particular."

Erekat added that "such a decision will be destructive and the withdrawal of the UN's employees and programs from Gaza Strip will be disastrous and will hinder the donor countries' projects."

He told Ma'an that such a trend by the UN "will have a catastrophic impact on Palestinian society, which might generate a further collapse in the already deteriorated Palestinian economy."

Erekat called on the UN to retract their decision.

The fact that Gaza is in fact one of the world's most dangerous areas is utterly irrelevant. Rather than working to actually fix Gaza, Erekat wants the UN to endanger its own workers and other foreigners.

Par for the course.

Today's fake condemnations

Only Palestinian Arab leaders can look at an attack against Jews and claim that they are the real victims.

Which means that if only Jews would be victims of an attack, well, that would be just dandy!

This is sabotage and aimed at sabotaging the elections, not only the elections, but also the security of Palestinians,' Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told reporters at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

'The culprits must be punished,' he said. 'They aim to sabotage the elections and the efforts of the Palestinian Authority to impose law and order.'

'We condemn this attack,' echoed senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. 'This is an attack to sabotage the Palestinian elections and sabotage the efforts being exerted to revive the peace process after the elections.'

Has there ever been a culture so obsessed with victimhood to the point of paralysis?