Do Not Be Conned By "Moderate" Abbas

Liar

As Obama meets with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, it is still distressingly common to hear Abbas and the Fatah party referred to as the "moderate" alternative to the more "unreasonable" Hamas. Yesterday, CNN tells us, Abbas "strongly advocated" the bogus and - from Israel's standpoint - suicidal two-state solution.

Let us remember that the constitution of Fatah, while written in milder, more secular language than that of Hamas, nevertheless still calls for the eradication of Israel as a Jewish state.

Article 1 says that "Palestine is part of the Arab World, and the Palestinian people are part of the Arab Nation, and their struggle is part of its struggle." Article 9 states: "Liberating Palestine and protecting its holy places is an Arab, religious and human obligation." There can be no total "liberation" of Palestine without eradicating Israel: "Complete liberation of Palestine, and eradication of Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence." (Article 12) Another goal is: "Establishing an independent democratic state with complete sovereignty on all Palestinian lands, and Jerusalem is its capital city, and protecting the citizens' legal and equal rights without any racial or religious discrimination." (Article 13) Egyptian Jewish historian Bat Ye'or has aptly termed this clause the "Palestinian Dhimma", since Muslim definitions of religious discrimination only ever go one way.

"Armed public revolution is the inevitable method to liberating Palestine." (Article 17) Finally, just in case we didn't get it already, "this struggle will not cease unless the Zionist state is demolished and Palestine is completely liberated." (Article 19)

There are over 30 Articles in the constitution which effectively call for the eradication of a Jewish state on "Palestinian" land. Mahmoud Abbas has emphasised this himself, ridiculing the idea of Israel as a Jewish state only last month.

Abbas is also an antisemite par excellence, saying in a speech in 2007 that in the Qur'an, “[t]he sons of Israel [that is, the Jews] are mentioned as those who are corrupting humanity on earth.” He was almost certainly referring to verse 5:64: “The Jews say: 'Allah's hand is tied up.' Be their hands tied up and be they accursed for the (blasphemy) they utter. Nay, both His hands are widely outstretched: He giveth and spendeth (of His bounty) as He pleaseth. But the revelation that cometh to thee from Allah increaseth in most of them their obstinate rebellion and blasphemy. Amongst them we have placed enmity and hatred till the Day of Judgment. Every time they kindle the fire of war, Allah doth extinguish it; but they (ever) strive to do mischief on earth. And Allah loveth not those who do mischief.” This same verse is quoted in the Hamas Charter to justify the jihad group's genocidal hatred not only of Israel, but of all Jews.

The Palestinian claim to Israeli land stems from classical Islamic law. All of historical Palestine was conquered by Islamic armies in the seventh century. According to the sharia, whenever a Muslim land is usurped by unbelievers, all Muslims must fight to reclaim it. Israel, as an infidel polity on such “Muslim land”, must be eradicated by jihad and reclaimed for Islam. Ibn Taymiyya (d.1328), the famous jurist of the Hanbali school, wrote: “If the enemy enters a Muslim land, there is no doubt that it is obligatory for the closest and then the next closest to repel him, because the Muslim lands are like one land.”

Both Hamas and Fatah want the same thing: the eradication of Israel. The only thing that makes Fatah more "moderate" is how guarded they are in expressing their desires.

That is all.