On Thursday, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs unanimously passed a resolution from two congressional representatives from Florida condemning the Palestinian Authority (PA) as tensions continue to rise in the Middle East and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the matter.
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the chairwoman of the U.S. House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, and U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., introduced a proposal taking aim at the PA for inflaming passions against Israel and promoting anti-Semitism.
Violence has been on the rise in the region since rumors spread last month that Israel intended to end the current policies regarding worshiping at the Temple Mount. On Thursday, Ros-Lehtinen said the Palestinian Authority was only helping fuel those rumors.
“Words do have consequences, and so too do actions,” Ros-Lehtinen said at a committee hearing on Thursday. “And what we have seen for far too long from the Palestinian Authority and Abu Mazen are words and actions that are designed to incite violence, stoke tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, and shut down the path to a peaceful settlement between the two. Why do we see this? Because Abu Mazen is weak and self-serving -– this is the only course of action he can take as a charade to attempt to look strong for the Palestinian people, but the Palestinian people have grown tired of his failed leadership and they don’t trust him nor his corrupt allies.
“So what does he do when the people start to turn on him? He turns them against Israel,” Ros-Lehtinen added. “When in doubt, the PA blames Israel in order to deflect attention away from its own shortcomings. We will never see peace achieved between the two until we see real leadership from the Palestinians -– leaders who are willing to work for the Palestinians instead of against Israel. The Palestinians need a leader who is willing to reach peace instead of inciting violence, and that man has never been, nor will it ever be, Abu Mazen.”
Ros-Lehtinen turned her attention to why the measure was brought up and praised Deutch for his efforts working with her.
“This resolution, which I introduced alongside my friend and South Florida colleague, Ted Deutch, condemns anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incitement within the Palestinian Authority, and the timing of this markup and today’s hearing could not be any more appropriate,” Ros-Lehtinen added. “Last week, committee staffers traveled to Jerusalem and visited the holy sites and were constantly in earshot of the ambulances attending to the victims of these horrific attacks. Over the past month and a half, we have seen a new wave of terror and violence that has spread across Israel spurred on, in large part, by incitement by Abu Mazen and Palestinian Authority officials. This latest round of terror and violence is just that -– only the latest round of terror and violence. It may take a new form -– with knife attacks being the preferred method of terror this time around -– but the reality is that it is what we have come to expect when the Palestinian people have been indoctrinated and incited to violence for years and years by their supposed leaders.
“We need to hold Abu Mazen and the PA accountable for their actions to date, and let the PA know in no uncertain terms that it needs to stop fueling the violence and start working toward peace,” Ros-Lehtinen added. “We need the parties involved to reconcile their differences and come together to de-escalate the tensions. Abu Mazen needs to put aside his self-interests and finally do what is right for the good of the Palestinian people. Instead of inciting violence and promoting hatred, Abu Mazen needs to call for calm and work with the Israelis to restore the peace. The King of Jordan also has an important role to play as the guardian of Jerusalem’s Islamic holy sites. Everyone involved has an interest in seeing the incitement and violence stop; Jerusalem is the home of the holiest sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims, and it’s time for Abu Mazen to renounce the violence and cease the incitement from his government. So I urge my colleagues to support this measure, and I urge the international community to impress upon Abu Mazen how vital it is that the incitement ceases immediately.”
Kerry and Netanyahu met on Thursday in Berlin to discuss the matter and, like Ros-Lehtinen, the Israeli prime minister had no doubt who has been behind the recent wave of violence.
"There is no question that this wave of attacks is driven directly by incitement, incitement from Hamas, incitement from the Islamist movement in Israel and incitement, I am sorry to say, from President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority," Netanyahu said to Kerry.
"I think it is time for the international community to say clearly to President Abbas to stop spreading lies about Israel," Netanyahu added. "Lies that Israel wants to change the status quo at the Temple Mount, lies that Israel wants to tear down the Al-Aqsa Mosque, lies that Israel is executing Palestinians. All of that is false."
“We have to stop the incitement, we have to stop the violence,” Kerry said, insisting he talked to Abbas and Muslim leaders and they wanted the violence to cease.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
