PA official opposes normalization with Israel

"Poet [and Deputy Minister of Information] Al-Mutawakkil Taha expressed his hope yesterday that in light of the 'Arab Spring,' the Arab culture and drama movement would enter a new stage which would contribute more to the Palestinian cause... He continued: 'I believe that these revolutions... are what will push the hands of the clock until the hour of deliverance from the occupation (i.e., Israel) arrives. For, historically speaking, Palestine was liberated only by its inhabitants who resisted from inside, and by the nation from outside… In Palestine, our cultural history is not being inculcated. Worse still, there are intellectuals who are forced to gather alms from external sources of funding, who force their conditions of normalization upon the intellectuals and artists.'"