Palestinian leadership condemns as “treason” and “knife in the back” the Israel-UAE peace agreement
Posted text with cartoon:
Fatah: “#Normalization_is_a_crime
#Normalization_is_treason”
Responding to the historic peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the Palestinian leadership has once again clarified that “normalization” of relations with Israel is equivalent to “treason.”
Preferring to perpetuate the state of animosity between Israel, its neighbors, the Middle East, and other Muslim countries, the Palestinian leadership does not only reject making peace with Israel but also expects other countries to ignore the benefits they could reap from peaceful and normalized relations:
”The [PA] leadership expressed its rejection of what the UAE state carried out as treason against Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Palestinian cause, and recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and demanded that it immediately recant this embarrassing statement. It also emphasized its rejection of the exchange of freezing illegal annexation for the UAE’s normalization and using the Palestinian cause as cover for this.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 14, 2020]
Instead, the PA leadership characterizes the deal as a “knife in the back” as the cartoon above illustrates. Abbas’ deputy Chairman of the Fatah Movement Mahmoud Al-Aloul said this explicitly, also stating that the UAE peace agreement is “treason”:
“Fatah Movement Deputy Chairman [and Fatah Central Committee member] Mahmoud Al-Aloul… explained that the agreement that was achieved constitutes a knife in the back of Palestine and treason against Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 16, 2020]
PA official Ibrahim Ramadan who is the District Governor of Nablus went further and implicitly urged Palestinians to take to violence when he called for “peaceful popular resistance” - a term Palestinian Media Watch has shown is used by Palestinians to also refer to violence and terror:
“Nablus District Governor Ibrahim Ramadan called to strengthen the peaceful popular resistance in order to fight the occupation’s plans and expansion in the West Bank territories.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 16, 2020]
Supporting the Palestinian leadership’s rejection of the peace deal, the leader of the internationally designated terror organization Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, contacted PA Chairman Abbas to convey his support:
“[PA] President Mahmoud Abbas received a phone call from Hamas Movement Political Bureau Head Ismail Haniyeh yesterday evening, Thursday [Aug. 13, 2020]. Haniyeh emphasized his support for the leadership’s position rejecting the tripartite declaration of the US, the UAE, and Israel and also emphasized that we are all together and suggested joint activity.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 14, 2020]
The Palestinian rejection of the deal was also expressed in multiple visuals and cartoons:
Fatah calls for violence against leaders of US, the UAE, and Israel
Posted text: “In short…”
The cartoon shows a Palestinian holding a Palestinian flag and throwing a rock with a slingshot. The rock is striking the heads of US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.[Official Fatah Facebook page, Aug. 13, 2020]
PA: UAE-Israel bloody peace deal
Text on cartoon:“Those carrying out normalization”
The cartoon shows UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and an Israeli soldier with their arms around each other’s shoulders making a heart shape with their free hands while blood is dripping from them.
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 15, 2020]
Fatah calls UAE Crown Prince a “traitor”
The image shows a picture placed on the ground of UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan with a red “X” over his face and the word “traitor” below him. A shoe has been placed on top of Al Nahyan’s face and someone is standing on top of the picture. In Arab culture throwing shoes at someone is a sign of great disrespect for them.
[Official Fatah Facebook page, Aug. 14, 2020]
Fatah: UAE embraces Zionism
The cartoon shows an Israeli flag with the Star of David in the center formed by the figures of an Israeli soldier pinning down the hands of UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
[Official Fatah Facebook page, Aug. 14, 2020]
Fatah: UAE’s normalization with Israel is “a crime and treason”
Posted text: “#Normalization_is_a_crime #Normalization_is_treason”
The cartoon shows an elderly Palestinian man being stabbed in the back by a knife in the shape of a handshake – the hand comprising the knife’s blade has an Israeli flag on it, while the knife’s handle is in the shape of the head of UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, with a tag on his nose with “normalization” written on it.
The Palestinian man is bound in chains and weeping while wearing a keffiyeh (Arab headdress) in the shape of the PA map of “Palestine” that presents all of Israel as “Palestine” together with the PA areas, and a crown of thorns on his head in a reference to Jesus. In his belt is a key symbolizing the Palestinian refugees’ “right of return.”[Official Fatah Facebook page, Aug. 14, 2020]
The following are longer excerpts of the articles cited above:
Headline: “A tripartite assault on the Palestinian people’s rights”
“The [PA] leadership declared its fierce rejection and condemnation of the surprising tripartite announcement of the US, Israel, and the UAE regarding normalizing all the ties between the Israeli occupation state and the UAE state, in exchange for a declaration about temporarily freezing the [Israeli] annexation plan of the Palestinian territories and the imposition of Israeli sovereignty over them (see note below –Ed.)…
The [PA] leadership expressed its rejection of what the UAE state carried out as treason against Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Palestinian cause, and recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and demanded that it immediately recant this embarrassing statement. It also emphasized its rejection of the exchange of freezing illegal annexation for the UAE’s normalization and using the Palestinian cause as cover for this.”[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 14, 2020]
Headline: “Nablus: Participants in the comprehensive national committee emphasize their opposition to the agreement between the UAE and Israel”
“The participants in the comprehensive national committee that was held yesterday [Aug. 15, 2020] emphasized their opposition to the agreement between the UAE and Israel (see note below –Ed.)…
Fatah Movement Deputy Chairman [and Fatah Central Committee member] Mahmoud Al-Aloul said that the committee… was meant to declare a united Palestinian position in light of all the challenges, and especially the agreement between the US, the UAE, and Israel.
He added: ‘We were not surprised by this agreement. We had a lot of preludes throughout the recent years, and they became clearer during the recent months when, in the shadow of the spread of the Coronavirus, [the UAE leaders] attempted to send aid in planes that landed in the Lod [Ben Gurion] Airport, and we refused to receive it. They want to use the health topic as cover for normalization and agreement with the occupation.’ …
He explained that the agreement that was achieved constitutes a knife in the back of Palestine and treason against Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque…
Nablus District Governor Ibrahim Ramadan called to strengthen the peaceful popular resistance (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror), in order to fight the occupation’s plans and expansion in the West Bank territories.”[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 16, 2020]