The news that Time forgot … part V

Palestinian “moderation” – Don’t kill Jews … at the “wrong” time:

The day after the Hamas killings, official PA media reported that “Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad said that the operation which took place tonight in the Hebron area and its timing, harms the efforts being made by the PLO to gather international support for the Palestinian position… He said: ‘We condemn this operation, which contradicts the Palestinian interests and the efforts of the Palestinian leadership to gather international support…’” [PLO news agency Wafa, Aug. 31, 2010]

Abbas, when he returned to Ramallah, like Fayyad, lashed out at his political rival, Hamas, for the timing of the shootings: “He [Abbas] said that the recent shooting operations in the West Bank did not constitute resistance: ‘… For why isn’t [Hamas] resistance happening every day, and isn’t happening at all, except on the day we went to negotiations?!… Why did resistance become legitimate only today?” [Al- Ayyam, Sept. 6, 2010]

The PA Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash in his Friday sermon after the killings continued this PA line as he condemned the timing, even accusing Hamas of trying to help Netanyahu: “What is the secret of the timing for carrying out armed operations in the West Bank? We want to know the secret of the timing… Suddenly! – the moment that President Abbas reaches Washington, the moment that Netanyahu finds himself in the corner, pressed, forced to adapt and accommodate himself to the international approach, suddenly there is a respite for Netanyahu, and the Palestinians are in distress [because of the attacks]…” [PA TV (Fatah), Sept. 3, 2010]

The PA doesn’t just dislike badly timed terror; they also are bothered by moderate Palestinians. Translated from the Hebrew of Makor Rishon by the Daily Alert Blog:

The Ahmadi Muslim sect, founded in 1889 in India, now numbers tens of millions of believers, mostly living outside the Arab world. “We believe in a tolerant, friendly and rational Islam,” says Muhammad Sharif, head of the Ahmadis in Israel. Former Haifa Mayor Amram Mitzna notes that among this community there is “no incitement, violence, or feeling the need to conquer the whole world.”

Yet members of the sect who live in the Palestinian Authority have been suffering from incessant persecution, confiscation of property, and physical violence during the past year. Muhammad Jaabri, 46, of Hebron, a married father of four, explains: “They have repeatedly written threats and curses on the walls of my house. They’ve burned my car twice, thrown rocks at my windows.” A month ago Jaabri was attacked by a group of radical religious youth near his home. “They beat me with clubs, and I was in the hospital for days.” After his release, “I went to the police to file a complaint and they sent me to PA security service investigators, where I was beaten again and jailed.”

Muhammad Alawi, 34, from Tulkarm, was summoned to a PA Sharia court with his wife, who is not from an Ahmadi family, where she was ordered to leave her husband and return with her three children to her own family, who had initiated the legal proceedings.

And President Abbas is still complaining that a lack of an extension of a freeze on Jewish construction in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem is grounds for not talking peace; even though this was never a condition before the Obama administration came to power.

Still, the issue of what to do about settlements loomed over the day. Mr. Netanyahu has rejected calls, including from President Obama, to extend the partial moratorium when it expires Sept. 26; Mr. Abbas has said the Palestinians will walk away from the table if it is not extended. A senior Israeli official said there was “very little wiggle room” on either side.

Isn’t Abbas the guy who stands to gain the most from negotiations – his own state? So why in the world is he dictating the terms of the talks?

Credit for the image: Elder of Ziyon.

See previous editions: the original, part ii, part iii and part iv.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.