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Palestinian Arabs

PA rejects call to eliminate root of terror


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
November 19, 2004

The Palestinian Authority Friday failed its first post-Arafat test to determine whether or not it was serious about making peace with Israel.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon signaled Israel was ready to restart peace talks with the PA, but said this time around Jerusalem would demand full compliance with already-signed agreements.

Of particular interest to Sharon was the PA’s long-standing failure to end anti-Israel propaganda in the PA-controlled media and reform the “Palestinian” education system, which continues to deny Israel’s right to exist and advocates terrorism.

Sharon said the indoctrination of Palestinian Arab children to seek out a violent death in the struggle against Israel was the root cause of the ongoing terrorism in the region.

Until the PA fulfills its obligations in this area, Sharon warned, Israel would not fully implement phase one of the Road Map “peace” plan, which culminates in the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Senior PA officials responded by blasting Sharon for “setting conditions” for the resumption of negotiations, and claiming Israel itself was guilty of inciting against the “Palestinians.”

Ready to move

"I don't intend to waste time and my plan is to find any way, when the new Palestinian leadership is ready to open talks, to begin to advance our relations with the Palestinians," Sharon told a gathering of Likud activists Thursday.

Addressing Israeli concerns regarding the PA’s true intentions, Sharon said he would “test” the post-Arafat “Palestinian” leadership.

He said Israel “cannot give in on the demand to collect weapons and dismantle the terrorist organizations,” but recognized the process was more complex and the PA was not expected to make this happen immediately.

Incitement and indoctrination

“However, there are two demands that are under the direct control of the new leadership, and it must be seen to that they are implemented immediately,” Sharon stated.

“Any appeal by the new leadership,” he continued, would be considered in light of the PA’s efforts to end anti-Israel propaganda in the PA-controlled media and reform an education system that indoctrinates Palestinian Arab children to become terrorists.

The latter is seen by Israel as one of the PA’s most glaring violations of the Oslo Accords, as it prevents peaceful coexistence between upcoming generations of Jews and Arabs.

In particular, Sharon wants the PA to replace its “inflammatory textbooks” and ban “lessons, presentations, summer camps, etc., that incite against Israel.”

“The venomous propaganda in the Palestinian media and education system are the root and foundation of the growing phenomenon of suicide terrorism,” the prime minister charged.

“Palestinian education and propaganda are more dangerous to Israel than Palestinian weapons.”

Sharon indicated Israel would not allow full implementation of the first phase of the Road Map until the PA had fulfilled these crucial obligations.

Failed test

In expected fashion, “Palestinian” leaders responded to demands that they honor their commitments by lashing out at Israel.

The Israelis “should begin by abandoning their policy of setting conditions and stop their incitement against us," PA cabinet minister Saeb Erekat told Reuters Friday, forgetting that reforming the anti-Israel education system is a long-unfulfilled obligation rather than a precondition to talks.

New PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas claimed that while “we have issues of this kind,” the Israelis “have them to a greater extent.”

His comment ignored the fact that since 1993, Israeli schools have focused heavily on training young Jews to view the Palestinian Arabs as their peace partners, and pushing the “right” of these Arabs to form their own state.

Abbas said only after Israel agreed to return to the negotiating table would he consider talking about implementing the PA’s decade-old promises.

Signaling Bush

At the same time Sharon was making his comments, US President George W. Bush reiterated to Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom his intention to make solving the Israeli-Arab conflict the focus of his second term in office.

The two spoke while attending the opening of Bill Clinton’s presidential library in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Shalom assured the president Israel was most interested in renewing its relationship with the “Palestinian” leadership, but would have to first wait and see what form that leadership took.

Against the backdrop of Bush’s determined drive to birth a Palestinian state by 2009, the hardening of Sharon’s position on certain long-unfulfilled and largely ignored PA obligations was seen as Israel telling Washington it would not allow the formation of another Middle East terror-supporting state.

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