The Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mohammad Shtayyeh, “described the possible step pledged by the Israeli leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, as an ‘existential threat’ to a decades-long international effort for Israelis and Palestinians to reach an agreement that establishes two states side by side.” Now, he wants Israel “to ‘feel the heat’ over its plans to annex Palestinian territory.”
But there was never any viable peace process. It was a sham from the start, a grand deception to hide the real goals of the Palestinian leadership. “From the River [Jordan] to the Sea [Mediterranean], Palestine will be free” has been the jihadist battle cry of the Palestinian movement since Israel’s founding.
Israel’s ancient right to its homeland is indisputable, while the vast surrounding Arab states were seized by Islamic marauders, dispossessing Christians, as well as other minorities, of their lands throughout the Middle East.
The Palestinians were merely Ottoman South Syrians. Their leadership and their fellow Arab allies were bent on destroying the Jewish State, so they devised and spread lies about being native to the area. The truth is that the Palestinians today are merely pawns in the relentless endeavor to delegitimize Israel. Hamas and its “UN accomplices” even use Palestinian women and children as human shields.
Now that Israel plans to annex its rightful land, the Palestinian leadership is exploiting this move to boost its propaganda against Israel. The strategy is nothing new, but drives this propaganda to a deadly new level.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation already considers the Palestinian territories to be a “state.” The OIC has 56 member states, but indicates that it has 57, to include “Palestine.” The Vatican is also playing a part in emboldening the Palestinian leadership. It opened a Palestinian embassy at the Vatican in 2017. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attended the inauguration, a man who has declared that in a new “Palestinian State,” not a single Israeli would be present.
A recognized Palestinian state would merely expand the violence against innocent Israeli citizens that is already being committed. It would be a launching pad for jihad attacks.
Iran, which is an influential backer of Hamas, and its proxies will surely take advantage of the crisis now gripping America, Israel’s strongest ally, in any newly provocative move against Israel.
“Palestinian PM Threatens Statehood If Israel Annexes West Bank,” by Oliver Holmes, Guardian, June 9, 2020:
Palestine will declare statehood over all of the West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem as its capital, and push for global recognition if Israel goes ahead with plans to annex land it occupies, the Palestinian prime minister has said.
Mohammad Shtayyeh described the possible step pledged by the Israeli leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, as an “existential threat” to a decades-long international effort for Israelis and Palestinians to reach an agreement that establishes two states side by side.
He said Palestine would not continue to wait on statehood just to honour previous agreements made with Israel if it broke them by annexing territory. “It takes two to tango.”
Shtayyeh said he was leading a concerted push to gather diplomatic pressure against Israel and wanted world powers to threaten sanctions on Netanyahu’s government so that “Israel does not get away with murder”.
“What we want is that Israel should feel the heat,” Shtayyeh said at a press conference held by the local Foreign Press Association in Ramallah on Tuesday.
Palestinian leaders have declared statehood in the past, including Yasser Arafat in 1988. In 2012, Palestine gained UN observer state status. However, with the Palestinian territories remaining occupied by Israel, and in the absence of an agreement, there has not been full international recognition.
Shtayyeh, for example, is the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, a body created in 1994 and intended to be a pre-state interim government.
“The fruits of peace have never actually materialised since the signing of the agreement,” Shtayyeh said….
“We’re waiting and pushing for Israel not to annex,” Shtayyeh said. “If Israel is going to annex after July 1st, we are going to go from the interim period of the Palestinian Authority into the manifestation of a state on the ground.
“What does a manifestation of the state on the ground mean? It means that there will be a foundational council. There will be a constitutional declaration. And Palestine will be on the borders of [19]67, with Jerusalem as its capital. And we will call on the international community to recognise this land. That is where we are.”…