You can always blame Israel! PA: Israel spreads weapons among Palestinians to fuel internal disputes
Spokesman of PA Security Forces demonizes Israel, claims Israel deliberately spreads weapons among Palestinians to fuel internal disputes and “get rid of confrontations that are part of the popular uprising against this occupation”
The Palestinian Authority customarily blames Israel for its own shortcomings. While there are almost 70,000 personnel in the PA Security Forces, it would seem that they don't spend time gathering the numerous illegal weapons, including machine guns, held by Palestinians. When these weapons are used for terror, the PA is silent. But when they are used for internal Palestinian conflicts, the PA reverts to its constant fallback position: Blame Israel!
Encouraged by a PA TV interviewer, PA Security Forces Spokesman and General Commissioner of the PLO Political and National Guidance Authority Talal Dweikat recently blamed Israel for internal Palestinian violence, claiming Israel deliberately spreads weapons within Palestinian society to undermine the PA Security Forces and create internal strife in order to prevent Palestinians from carrying out terror – “popular uprising”:
Official PA TV host: “Don’t you also think like me that Israel and the Israeli occupation forces are interested – through the black market and weapons sales – in spreading these weapons in some of the places? Is there such an understanding?”
PA Security Forces Spokesman and General Commissioner of the PLO Political and National Guidance Authority Talal Dweikat: “Certainly, and especially in areas that have all kinds of social problems, we see these weapons being spread in a noticeable manner. The occupation is providing this in order to Judaize all of our resources, to thwart the [PA] security establishment, and this occupation also certainly views the internal conflicts in the Palestinian society as a means of getting rid of confrontations that are part of the popular uprising (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror) against this occupation”
[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, Aug. 23, 2021]
Commenting on the rise in violence and murder in Israeli Arab society, a PA TV newsreader made the same accusation, claiming that the Israeli government is “deliberately spreading weapons in the Arab society.” Responding to this, PA TV’s so-called “expert” on Israeli affairs, Fayez Abbas, accused Israeli soldiers of selling weapons to Israeli Arabs, knowing they will be used to settle internal disputes:
Official PA TV newsreader: “Most of the weapons that are being used [by Israeli Arabs], according to the figures of the [Israeli Parliament Research and Information Center] report, originate in the Israeli army. This clearly indicates that the Israeli government is deliberately spreading weapons in the Arab society.”
PA TV “Israeli affairs expert” Fayez Abbas: “More than 95% of the weapons are from the Israeli army. In other words, the Israeli soldiers are the ones dealing in these weapons, and they also know very well that these weapons will not be used against them in the Palestinian Interior (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel), but rather they will be used against the Arabs themselves.”
[Official PA TV News, Aug. 18, 2021]
Earlier, PA TV also accused Israeli police of ignoring the violence in the Arab society within Israel, claiming the police are “deliberately causing a continuation of the spread of crime”:
Official PA TV newsreader: “The plague of violence in the Arab society within the Green Line continues (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel; the Green Line is the ceasefire line between Israel and the neighboring Arab countries, 1949-1967). The number of victims has reached 64 in the shadow of the systematic policy that is being implemented by the Israeli police, which is deliberately causing a continuation of the spread of crime.”
[Official PA TV News, Aug. 6, 2021]
Palestinian Media Watch has reported on similar statements by PA officials and media, among them PA Police Spokesman Col. Luay Erziqat who argued that Israel has “begun to spread crime… and encourage violence and murder in the Palestinian society… The Israeli occupation… is transferring supplies to the weapon dealers.” [Official PA TV, Directly With the Police, June 1, 2020]
The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above:
Official PA TV host: “Don’t you also think like me that Israel and the Israeli occupation forces are interested – through the black market and weapons sales – in spreading these weapons in some of the places? Is there such an understanding?”
PA Security Forces Spokesman and General Commissioner of the PLO Political and National Guidance Authority Talal Dweikat: “Certainly, and especially in areas that have all kinds of social problems, we see these weapons being spread in a noticeable manner. The occupation is providing this in order to Judaize all of our resources, to thwart the [PA] security establishment, and this occupation also certainly views the internal conflicts in the Palestinian society as a means of getting rid of confrontations that are part of the popular uprising (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror) against this occupation. The occupation is unable to suppress our struggle and war through the acts of assassination and arrest, but through these means it is attempting as best as it can to achieve what it is planning, in order to prevent our people from fulfilling its role in the struggle and war against the occupation.”
[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, Aug. 23, 2021]
The terms "peaceful uprising/resistance,” and “popular uprising/resistance" are used by PA leaders at times to refer to peaceful protest and at times to refer to deadly terror attacks and terror waves. For example, Mahmoud Abbas defined as “peaceful popular” the murderous terror during the 2015-2016 terror wave (“The Knife Intifada”), in which 40 people were killed (36 Israelis, 1 Palestinian, 2 Americans and 1 Eritrean) and hundreds wounded in stabbings, shootings, and car ramming attacks. Abbas said: "We want peaceful popular uprising, and that’s what this is." https://palwatch.org/page/9276
Official PA TV newsreader: “Most of the weapons that are being used [by Israeli Arabs], according to the figures of the [Israeli Parliament Research and Information Center] report, originate in the Israeli army. This clearly indicates that the Israeli government is deliberately spreading weapons in the Arab society.”
PA TV “Israeli affairs expert” Fayez Abbas: “More than 95% of the weapons are from the Israeli army. In other words, the Israeli soldiers are the ones dealing in these weapons, and they also know very well that these weapons will not be used against them in the Palestinian Interior (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel), but rather they will be used against the Arabs themselves.”
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Coordinator of the Anti-Violence and Crime Committee of the National Committee of the Heads of Arab Local Authorities in Israel Mahmoud Nassar: “It may be that [the Israeli Arab violence] will cause some of the young Arab people to think about leaving their villages and cities and emigrating in order to obtain personal security, social security, and a life of wellbeing and peace. Unfortunately, that is what is not being provided in recent years in our Arab cities. I think that this is a kind of deliberate policy that the State of Israel has been implementing for years.”
[Official PA TV News, Aug. 18, 2021]
Official PA TV newsreader: “The plague of violence in the Arab society within the Green Line continues (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel; the Green Line is the ceasefire line between Israel and the neighboring Arab countries, 1949-1967). The number of victims has reached 64 in the shadow of the systematic policy that is being implemented by the Israeli police, which is deliberately causing a continuation of the spread of crime.”
[Official PA TV News, Aug. 6, 2021]
Green Line - 1949-1967 ceasefire line between Israel and the neighboring Arab countries (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) following Israel's War of Independence (1948-1949). Land within the Green Line is all part of the State of Israel since 1949. Land outside the Green Line includes East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights.