The PA Claims they want Peace: Facts Say Otherwise

 Ever since the 1993 Oslo Accord we have heard countless promises of peace from the Palestinian Authority, yet for the past 25 years, there has been no peace.  Why is this?  The answer is that the Palestinian Authority does not believe in a lasting peace, and for them the Two-State Solution is not a road to a permanent peace, but a temporary means to an end, specifically Israel's end.  

In July of 2000, the Camp David Summit ended in failure.  When Khaled Abu Toameh, an Israeli-Arab journalist for the Jerusalem Post asked Yasser Arafat why it failed. Arafat stated that it failed for two reasons: "First of all the Jews did not give me 100% of what I wanted." "Secondly, the Jews wanted me to end the conflict after I get what I want. I can not do this because if I make peace, I will end up drinking tea up there with Anwar Sadat (The former Egyptian President who was assassinated for signing a peace treaty with Israel)."  So it seems that even if Arafat did get all of his demands, he still had no intention of ending the war against Israel.  

This was confirmed by Hamas defector, Mosab Hassan Yousef.  Despite being offered over 90% of the West Bank, all of Gaza, East Jerusalem (including the Temple Mount), and billions of dollars to build a state.  Arafat refused, he had grown wealthy and didn’t want to lose his wealth and have to take on the burden of building a state, so he demanded the Right of Return of all refugees from the pre-1967 borders, a condition he knew that Israel could not accept.  He loved all the media attention he now received, and wasn’t going to give it up.  Mosab now saw him as “A traitor who sold out his people for a ride on their shoulders.  A reverse Robin Hood, who plundered to poor and made himself rich.  As a cheap ham, who bought his place in the limelight with Palestinian Blood.”  Arafat had been given the keys for peace, and he threw them away.   

Former PLO Terrorist Tass Saada likewise stated that ever since the 1993 Oslo Accord, the Palestinian Authority has not changed its charter and terrorism has not stopped.  This is the practice of Taqiyya, an Islamic practice which decrees that lying and deceiving your enemies is permissible if it helps promote eventually victory.  Nonie Darwish likewish confirmed that in times of conflict it is a common practice for Arabs to say one thing, but do another.  When we look at the statements made by PA leaders, we see strong evidence of this practice of Taqiyya.

• In 628 AD, the Islamic founder Muhammad signed a 10-year treaty with the city of Mecca (Treat of Al-Hudaybiyah) but broke it two years later when the moment suited him.  He justified himself by stating "War is deceit."  (Bukhari Book 52 Hadith 269).  In an interview on Egyptian TV on April of 1998, Arafat continually referred to Al-Hudaybiyah, implying that the Oslo Accord was "a means to an end."  This explains why every peace treaty offered since the Oslo Accord has been rejected.  
• In truth, Arafat was telling this to the Arab leaders in Stockholm right after the Oslo Accord when he stated "“We the PLO will now concentrate all our efforts in splitting Israel into two camps.  Within five years we will have 6-7 million Arabs living in the West Bank and Jerusalem.  The PLO plans to eliminate the State of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian State.  We will make life unbearable for the Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion.  Jews won’t want to live among us Arabs.”  
• Arafat's Subordinate Faisal al-Husseini likewise confirmed that the Oslo Accord was a "Trojan Horse."   
• When Mayor of Bethlehem proposed a truce during the Second Intifada, Arafat stated “Whoever thinks of stopping the Intifada before it achieves its goal I will give 10 bullets in the chest.”  
• In 2006 Faud Shubaki, confessed that Arafat used international funds sent for humanitarian purposes to instead obtain arms for terrorist attacks.  Arafat's wife confirmed in a 2012 interview that he had been planning the Second Intifada for years.  
• None of Arafat's double dealings came as a surprise to Arab leaders, who were all too familar with Arafat's double dealings.  In the early 1970’s, Jordanian forces killed thousands of PLO operatives after Arafat tried to take over the nation of Jordan.  In one interview, King Hussein of Jordan stated “Arafat never came to a bridge that he didn’t double-cross.”  
• After the 6-Day War, Arab nations met in the Sudan to discuss their policy with Israel after the war.  Their stand at the1967 Khartoum Summit was simple and straightforward: “No peace, no negotiations, no recognition."  It's quite clear that ever since 1993, Arafat continued this policy, and it shows no signs of changing.  

Sources

Hadith of Sahih Bukhari

Darwish, Nonie.  Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror.  New York: Penguin Group, 2006.

Dershowitz, Alan.  The Case for Israel.  Hoboken, NJ: John Riley & Sons Inc., 2003.

Gabriel, Bridget.  They Must be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam & How We Can Do It.  New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2009.

Glick Caroline.  The Israeli Solution.  New York: Crown Forum, 2014.

Gold, Dore.  The Fight for Jerusalem.  Washington D.C.: Regnery Publishing Inc., 2007

Katz, Samuel.  Battleground: Fact & Fantasy in Palestine.  New York: GRM Associates Inc., 2002.

Muravchik, Joshua.  Making David into Goliath: How the World Turned Against Israel.  New York: Encounter Books, 2014. 

Saada, Tass and Dean Merrill.  Once an Arafat Man.  Clarksville, Tennessee: Riggins International Rights Service, Inc., 2008. 

Yousef, Mosab Hassan.  Son of Hamas.  Chicago: Tyndale House Publisher, 2010.  

TJ Singh.  "Khaled Abu Toameh-The Life of a Pro-Israeli Arab-Muslim."  Filmed [July 2018].  YouTube Video 22:56.  Posted [July 2018].  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLUrZbNqGA0