Palestinians: The Problem with 'Peace' - by Khaled Abu Toameh - https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16093/palestinians-problem-peace
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki seems to have committed a "crime". He said that the Palestinians are prepared to hold a meeting with Israelis! Malki made this scandalous statement during a meeting last week with foreign journalists.
"The Palestinian leadership has confidence in Russian President Vladimir Putin," Malki said, referring to the possibility of holding a video conference meeting between PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under the auspices of the Russian president. "The Palestinians will consider this possibility if Russia determines that its useful."
The Palestinian leadership, since 2014, has been boycotting peace talks with Israel. Since 2017, the Palestinian leadership has also been boycotting the US administration in response to President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Abbas, on May 19, announced his decision to renounce all agreements and understandings with Israel and the US, including security cooperation. As far as the Palestinian leadership is concerned, Israel and the US administration are now the main enemies of the Palestinians. It is prohibited to talk to any Israeli or US official. It has also become taboo for any Palestinian to talk about holding meetings with Israeli or US officials.
Malki's statements have therefore sparked widespread anger among Palestinians, some of whom are denouncing him and calling for his resignation.
Notably, those who are now condemning Malki are not only from extremist groups opposed to any peace process with Israel, but also from Abbas's own ruling Fatah faction. This is the same Fatah that is regularly referred to in the international media as the "moderate" faction of the Palestinians.
Founded in 1959, Fatah is the full name of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement. In 1967, Fatah joined the PLO, which signed the Oslo Accord with Israel in 1993 ostensibly to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by means of territorial concessions.
At the time, then PLO leader Yasser Arafat sent a letter to then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin claiming that the PLO was willing to acknowledge Israel's right to exist, commit to finding a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and relinquish all forms of terrorism.
Twenty-seven years later, the leaders of Fatah evidently believe that conducting negotiations with Israel is a "crime" and that Palestinians who still believe in a peace process with Israelis at the very least need to be removed from their jobs.
Responding to Malki's statements, senior Fatah official Tawfik Tirawi issued a stern warning to the Palestinian foreign minister and accused him of acting in violation of the Palestinian "national consensus." Addressing Malki, the Fatah official said:
"It is time for you to go home for self-reflection. You are no longer able to express, with a minimum of diplomacy, the aspirations of the [Palestinian] people. The prime minister is urgently required to replace you."
Because of Tirawi's background and senior position in Fatah, his attack on the Palestinian foreign minister carries weight. Tirawi, who holds the rank of Brigadier-General and is a member of the Fatah Central Committee, created and headed the Palestinian General Intelligence Service in 1994.
It is also notable that in the wake of Tirawi's attack on Malki, no Fatah leader has come out in Malki's defense. Fatah's silence, in fact, can be seen as an endorsement of Tirawi's call for dismissing a Palestinian official who expresses readiness to hold meetings with Israelis.
Tirawi's attack on Malki, meanwhile, has been welcomed by several Palestinian groups that reject Israel's right to exist, including the Iranian-funded Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Hamas said Malki's comments indicate that the Palestinian leadership is not serious about its threat to walk away from all agreements and understandings with Israel. "These statements show that the Palestinian leadership lacks the will to confront [Israeli] plans to annex the West Bank," Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said. "They also show that the Palestinian leadership is continuing to bet on its relations with the occupation government."
PIJ said in a separate remark that Malki's announcement "expose[s] the size of the confusion in the performance of the Palestinian Authority." According to PIJ, the message also reveals the "contradictory positions and actions of Palestinian officials regarding meetings with the enemy."
The PLO's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) called for firing Malki and holding him accountable for his readiness to resume peace talks with Israel. "The PFLP views with seriousness the statements attributed to Malki, which reflect the Palestinian Authority's continued adherence to the illusions of negotiations [with Israel]," the group said in a statement. "The PFLP considers these comments as part of a trend that is turning against the Palestinian national and factional consensus."
Another PLO group, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), called on Malki to "stop your political heresy and abide by the decisions of the legislative bodies of the [PLO] National and Central Councils." These decisions advocate cutting off all relations with Israel, including security cooperation between the Palestinian security forces and the IDF in the West Bank. The DFLP said that Malki's remarks "carry dangerous positions and intentions that contradict the general trend adopted by the Palestinians towards Israel."
Not surprisingly, Malki, because of his apparent readiness to conduct a dialogue with Israel, is also facing a campaign of incitement on various social media platforms.
The attacks on Malki are hardly a surprise, given growing anti-Israel and anti-US sentiments among Palestinians.
This hostility is the direct result of the Palestinian leadership's continued incitement and fiery rhetoric against Israel and the US. Day in and day out, Palestinian leaders drill into the minds of their people that Israel rejects peace and is committing "war crimes" against Palestinians.
The same leaders insist with deadly deliberation that the US administration and Trump are "biased" in favor Israel and hate the Palestinians. When you radicalize your people against Israel and the US in such a way, how can you expect Palestinian leaders not to veto meeting with Israelis?
Under the current circumstances, it is impossible to talk about the resumption of a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians: as Malki learned the hard way, even as much as a word about negotiations from the mouth of a Palestinian leader sounds -- at the very least -- the death knell of his career.
Moreover, as Malki is also under attack also from "moderates," one can only ask what "non-moderates" could have in store for the besieged foreign minister -- or for any leader who might dare to return to a negotiating table with Israel?
The Gaza They Do Not Want You to See - by Bassam Tawil -
The Palestinian terror group Hamas has warned Palestinians in the Gaza Strip not to publish photos from the Gaza Strip on social media platforms.
In a June 9 statement, the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Interior claimed that "Israeli intelligence agencies have been asking residents of the Gaza Strip -- through social media -- to use their mobile phones to take pictures of various places in the Gaza Strip."
Hamas warned Palestinians against complying with the alleged Israeli request and claimed that Israel was using social media accounts to "recruit collaborators and obtain information."
Hamas added that its security forces were monitoring Israeli and Palestinian social media accounts and would take "legal measures" against Palestinians who interacted with the purported Israeli intelligence agencies.
Is Hamas actually worried that the Israeli security authorities would use the photos to "recruit" informants or that Palestinians might take pictures of its tunnels and rockets? Not exactly.
Hamas is worried that the photos and videos taken by Palestinians would reveal to the world a different reality of the situation in the Gaza Strip -- a reality that runs contrary to all the stories and images of "poverty," "misery" and "suffering" of Palestinians there.
What Hamas seeks to conceal from the world are the shopping malls, supermarkets, fancy restaurants, sleek coffee shops and modern clothing stores that have sprung up in the Gaza Strip in recent years.
Such images are excruciatingly embarrassing for the leaders of Hamas, who want to continue lying with impunity about Palestinians in the Gaza Strip suffering as a result of Israel's "blockade" on the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave. These images are also an embarrassment to anti-Israel propagandists seeking to portray a completely different reality of life in the Gaza Strip as part of their campaign to delegitimize Israel and demonize Jews by holding them fully responsible for the "suffering" of Palestinians.
The Hamas warning came after several photos and video clips depicting the good life of many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip appeared on a number of social media platforms, particularly Twitter.
One popular Twitter account called, @Imshin, has been disseminating videos, blog spots, and news from the world of the middle-class and wealthy of the Gaza Strip that never makes it into the mainstream media. Relying on videos and photos taken by Palestinians, the account provides unique insight into the comfortable life of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as they engage in shopping sprees and enjoy their outings at swimming pools, upscale restaurants, luxurious hotels and beach resorts.
On June 2, the account featured a post about the Royal House Chalet, south of the University of Gaza -- one of the most modern and lavish resorts in the Gaza Strip, fully equipped with an impressive swimming pool and state-of-the-art suites.
Another post features the Viola Restaurant and Caf�, a popular spot in the Gaza Port famous for its variety of desserts and snacks.
Palestinians planning a barbecue for Thursday night (the last day of work in the week) are invited to purchase all their barbecue supplies at the Care4Mall in the Gaza Strip. Located in the Tal al-Hawa suburb of Gaza City, the mall includes stores for home appliances, food stores and a fast-food court. "We provide all goods and services the citizen needs," the shopping mall says on its Facebook page. "We strive to achieve customer satisfaction and appreciation by providing competitive prices."
Ironically, the shopping mall also boasts that among the goods it provides is the Israeli instant coffee brand, Elite's "Namess". Apparently, Hamas and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have not heard of (or do not seem to care about) the anti-Israel campaign to boycott Israeli products and manufacturing companies, including the large food company Elite.
In other videos posted on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, the children of the Gaza Strip are documented purchasing mobile phones and enjoying the taste of various flavors of ice cream and slushies.
One of the popular ice cream businesses is the Kazem Ice Cream shop in the neighborhood of al-Rimal in the Gaza Strip, home to a number of Hamas leaders. Smartphones, including the iPhone 11, the most recent version of Apple devices, are available for sale in supermarkets throughout the Gaza Strip, as recently announced by Metro Market, one of the largest supermarkets in the area.
A few weeks ago, one of the Gaza Strip's fanciest shopping malls was inaugurated in Nusierat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The new Al-Danaf Hyper Mall includes a large supermarket where shoppers can purchase various imported goods that are often not even available in Israeli markets.
Earlier this year, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip celebrated the opening of the Deux Fashion clothing store, located on Ahmad Abd al-Aziz Street in Gaza City. The large store offers various clothing brands, mostly imported from Turkey and other countries. "The best place to buy men's clothes, online or offline, with the highest quality for the best price," reads the advertisement published on the store's Facebook page.
These are only a handful of images from the Gaza Strip that make Hamas nervous. How can Hamas continue begging for financial aid from the United Nations and other international humanitarian aid organizations when Palestinians are posting photos families on shopping sprees and children eating ice cream and buying smartphones?
How can Hamas and its supporters around the world continue to complain about poverty and misery when new shopping malls and supermarkets filled with clothes and various types of luxury goods are being opened every few weeks in the Gaza Strip?
Why are foreign correspondents covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ignoring the greener pastures in the Gaza Strip? Why are Palestinian journalists based in the Gaza Strip dumping photographic documentation of these sunny, positive developments in the Gaza Strip into the dustbin? It is because such images do not fit their anti-Israel narrative and agenda.
The foreign and Palestinian journalists are complicit in the Hamas coverup: they want to continue blaming Israel for everything negative that Palestinians encounter. Given the latest Hamas warning, it is only a matter of time before one hears about Palestinians being imprisoned or killed for "betraying" the Palestinian cause by posting photos of the Gaza Strip's newest version of "the Ritz" and children gleefully licking their multicolored ice-cream cones.
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