There is a growing concern in the Palestinian Authority that Israel is working to remove PA chairman Abu Mazen from power because he does not fight terrorism and that the possibility cannot be ruled out that Israel will attempt to assassinate him as it did, according to them, to his predecessor Yasser Arafat after imposing a siege on him in the Muqataa in Ramallah and eventually poisoning him In a mysterious way, Yasser Arafat died in a hospital in Paris on November 11, 2004.
The PA’s new claim against Israel is based on what it calls “a campaign of incitement in the Israeli media against Abu Mazen” and also on posters in the Hebrew language that it claims were distributed at some of the IDF checkpoints In the West Bank, on one of them was written “to assassinate those who finance murders, those who finance murder will be killed themselves”.
Nabil Abu Roudeina, the spokesman for the Palestinian presidency, rejected the Israeli incitement outright and placed the responsibility for it on the Israeli government, which he claims “is responsible for the incitement against the chairman of the Palestinian Authority”..
The Fatah movement also warned against “the continued incitement of the settlers and the Israeli media and the calls to assassinate PA Chairman Abu Mazen”.
A statement issued by the movement stated that “this is a natural result of a policy of hatred, incitement to kill and a racist apartheid policy of the Israeli government against the Palestinian people”.
Osama al-Kwasma, a member of Fatah’s revolutionary council, told the “Rai Alyoum” newspaper on September 20 that “the occupation government is the one that finances the real terrorism through the continuation of the occupation, the construction of the separation fence, the demolition of houses, the isolation of the cities and villages, the killing of the children and the arrests”.
The Israeli “campaign of incitement”
According to the Palestinians, the campaign of incitement against PA Chairman Abu Mazen began a few weeks ago after his statement in Germany in which he accused Israel of “committing 50 holocausts” against the Palestinian people.
Palestinian Authority claims that the incitement against Abu Mazen is unprecedented and that Israel holds him directly and indirectly responsible for the deterioration of the security situation in the West Bank and the strengthening “resistance” force.
PA officials accuse, among other things, the Israeli Channel 13 of inciting against Abu Mazen, according to them, last Sunday a report was broadcast claiming that Abu Mazen repeats the mistakes of Yasser Arafat.
The report claimed that the participation of PA security personnel in attacks against Israelis is no coincidence and that the Fatah movement encourages attacks on its social networks and websites.
The report also claimed that Abu Mazen previously prevented the PA’s security personnel from participating in terror attacks, but now he is repeating the mistakes of Yasser Arafat and allows PA security personnel to participate in terrorist attacks against Israelis.
Channel 13’s report also stated that the Fatah movement openly talks about its return to “armed struggle against Israel” and that recently 17 Palestinian security personnel participated in terrorist operations, 3 of whom were killed, the last being Ahmed Abed who killed the IDF officer Major Bar Falach in the Jenin area.
Senior political figures in Jerusalem reject the Palestinian Authority’s claims outright and say that Israel is not responsible for Yasser Arafat’s death in any way, regarding the claims of incitement against Abu Mazen they say that the media in Israel is free and not directed by the government, Israel demands that Abu Mazen abide by the agreements Oslo and with the obligation to fight terrorism according to the security coordination agreement between the two sides.
The PA’s conspiracy claims are not new and it makes them again and again whenever Abu Mazen is in trouble, the current PA chairman, unlike Yasser Arafat, is protected by Israel , the USA, the European Union and moderate Arab countries and the current Israeli government has no intention of assassinating him, on the contrary, it has worked to strengthen his position since operation “Guardian of the Walls” in May 2021, Israel’s demand from Abu Mazen to fight terrorism is legitimate and based on his past conduct and the Oslo Accords.
