Abbas threatens ‘difficult steps’ against US, Israel

The Palestinians “may be up to difficult steps in our relationship with our neighbors (Israel) and the US, but I am not going to say what they are,” Abbas stated.

By: World Israel News Staff

Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas Monday threatened to take “difficult steps” against the US and Israel.

Addressing the Palestinian National Council (PNC), the PLO parliament, Abbas said that “we may be up to difficult steps in our relationship with our neighbors (Israel) and the US, but I am not going to say what they are.”

Concerning any US peace proposal, Abbas affirmed that the Palestinians “will not accept the US as the mediator by itself and will not accept anything it offers.”

“They talked about a deal. We said fine. Then we were surprised to find out that the deal was a slap – an end to the peace process,” he said.

The Palestinians have been boycotting Washington since President Donald Trump’s recognitions of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December.

Abbas argued that a peace deal that overlooks the question of Jerusalem’s status, the so-called Palestinian refugees and Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria will not be accepted by the Palestinians.

“If the US wants to offer a deal, then it should be a two-state solution with east Jerusalem as its capital. We will not accept anything else,” he reiterated.

Abbas emphasized that the PA believes in a two-state solution and a minor swap of land “that is equal in quantity and value” and that it will not accept Jerusalem as a capital for two states, if suggested.

Regarding the recent Hamas-led violence on the border with Gaza, Abbas called on the Palestinians to keep in mind the safety of children who are the future generation.

“Resistance is effective but I say here: keep the children away from the fence. We shouldn’t let children get near the fence so that they won’t get shot,” he stated, apparently criticizing Hamas’ strategy of sending women and children to the fence as a cover for the terror-related actions and to provoke the IDF forces stationed there.

Abbas’ anti-Semitism

Not for the first time, Abbas dismissed Israel’s existence as “a colonial project intended to plant an odd body in this region [Middle East],” but then claimed he was “not saying here that Israel should be removed. Israel exists, and all I want is a state so that we can live together in peace.”

He also discussed what he says are the causes of 20th-century anti-Semitism in Europe, saying these views are based on books by Jewish writers. “The conclusion of these books is that animosity toward Jews was not because of their religion, but because of their social activities,” including money-lending, he said, essentially parroting anti-Semitic allegations against Jews.

Abbas touched on a number of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories during what he called a “history lesson,” attempting to prove that the 3,000-year-old Jewish connection to the Land of Israel is false.

Citing Arthur Koestler’s book, The Thirteenth Tribe, which claims that Ashkenazi Jews are descended from Khazars, Abbas said European Jews therefore had “no historical ties” to the Land of Israel.

He went on to say that the Holocaust was not the result of anti-Semitism ,but rather of the Jews’ “social behavior,  [charging] interest, and financial matters.”

Abbas further claimed that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler facilitated the immigration of Jews to Israel by reaching a deal with the Anglo-Palestine Bank under which Jews who moved to the British Mandate of Palestine could transfer all their assets there.

AP contributed to this report.