In Vote Fatah (or Hamas) Khalil Shkaki writes:
Recall how, in 1999, when the interim arrangements of the Oslo agreements expired without an end to the occupation, younger nationalists led by Fatah leaders like Marwan Barghouti, in cooperation with Islamists, were emboldened to challenge the leadership of Yasir Arafat’s old guard. Public demand for violence against Israelis grew considerably, leading to a bloody five-year intifada. Today, the level of Palestinian public support for armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel is higher than it has been since 2005.
What’s missing here? Well for starters, when did the “Aqsa intifada” start (under Arafat’s direction)? Why it started in September 2000. And that was after Arafat turned down an offer for statehood in July, 2000. In other words Arafat refused to create a state and Shkaki blames Israel for not ending the occupation.
And did Barghouti challenge Arafat? Or did he act as Arafat’s proxy by planning terror attacks, for which he is now imprisoned?
Of course there are other questions. Why is support for terror higher now than any time since 2005. In 2005 Israel withdrew from Gaza. 2005 is a time when, having received a significant concession from Israel, the Palestinians should have been less inclined towards terror. And how does Shkaki explain the terror of early 1996, just weeks after Israel finished handing over 6 cities to the PA? Maybe support for terror against Israel isn’t a function of anything Israel does but of the encouragement that terror gets from the PA government – in violation of their obligations under Oslo – from the PA’s official media, schools and clerics.
Even if his history were not so inaccurate, Shkaki is arguing that now that the threat for terror against Israel is high, Israel ought to trust the Palestinian Authority even more. Where’s the logic in that?
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
