Fatah official attacks US peace deal; “We must escalate the popular resistance,” but must avoid armed struggle
Official PA TV program Topic of the Day, on an Israeli campaign calling to assassinate PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, hosting Fatah Revolutionary Council member and official Fatah Spokesperson Osama Al-Qawasmi and Israeli Arab Parliament Member Ayman Odeh of the Joint [Arab] List party
Official PA TV host: “Mr. Osama Al-Qawasmi, Israel must pay the price for this clear provocation – the invasions, provocations, threats on the life of [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas. All of this is not passing in silence, and it also unites the Palestinian people. What will be the nature of the Palestinian response – diplomatic, political, popular resistance? How will [the response] be, to cause Israel to pay the price of its continuing crimes and hatred towards our people?”
Fatah Revolutionary Council member and official Fatah Spokesperson Osama Al-Qawasmi: “Israel is targeting President Mahmoud Abbas due to his positions that reject the Zionist-American deal of shame (apparently refers to US President Donald Trump’s as yet unpublished Middle East peace plan –Ed.), and after it has carried out all of the types of operations and pressure – as we mentioned previously – and failed, it is turning to another position. We must read the situation and the map clearly, as [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu reads them: There is Gaza, Hamas controls it, and now the money is entering and there is an agreement to improve the financial situation in exchange for peace and quiet in the Gaza Strip. The deal of shame is a fake State of Palestine, or a principality in Gaza. The real goal is what is called ‘Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria’ (i.e., the West Bank), that is the aspiration. If the situation satisfies them, despite all that has happened in the last three weeks (apparently refers to the killing of Palestinian terrorists resisting arrest –Ed.) – out of an attempt to inflame the situation just for an improvement of the conditions – then the situation is completely stable in the Gaza Strip, and we must read [the situation]. There is a serious problem for President Mahmoud Abbas. There is a serious problem with this man since they have exhausted all of the attempts, and therefore the response needs to first of all be to expose the shame of everyone who negotiates with the US and Israel over what is called ‘the deal of shame,’ and we – or others – must [make sure] there is no Red Cross saying ‘We call on both sides of the [Hamas-Fatah] rift to stop,’ and whoever claims that he is standing against the deal of shame, and is indirectly negotiating and seeking legitimacy– I think that we will not be able to be silent about this attack on President Mahmoud Abbas and the entire Palestinian dream to establish a Palestinian state. Secondly, [the response is] adherence to the popular resistance and not going to any position as a result of a particular feeling, so that we will not give Netanyahu additional excuses to pounce on the entire Palestinian people. When they target the president, they target the [Palestinian] position, and therefore we must be clever and not arrogant, and not listen to the words of the demagogues who implore [us] to turn to armed struggle. My words are clear – we must escalate the popular resistance in the Palestinian lands.”
Campaign calling to assassinate PA Chairman Abbas - The Derech Haim Movement, led by right-wing Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, began a campaign calling for the assassination of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in December 2018. Their posters, which have been put up in the West Bank, show Abbas' face as if seen through a rifle sight. On the poster is written in red, with blood dripping from it: "A call to the government: Eliminate those who fund murder!" Under this is written: "The Palestinian Authority and its leader pay 12,000 Israeli shekels a month to murderers of Jews. The time has come to say: One who funds murder = murderer." Under this text are the pictures of the five Fogel family terror victims who were murdered in their home in 2011, and whose imprisoned murderers are receiving salaries from the PA. At the bottom is Derech Haim’s logo.