No, Palestinian Leaders Did NOT Condemn The Terrorist Attack

It has been generally reported that the Palestinian leadership condemned the Hamas terrorist attack that killed 4 Israelis:

In response to the attack, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday night that he "condemns all acts that target Palestinian and Israeli civilians." Abbas said that the attack in the Hebron attack was designed to "disrupt the peace process and can't be regarded as an act of resistance."

However, the statements were made in Arabic--and in actuality neither the word 'condemn' nor 'terror' was ever mentioned.
Instead, the reports on what was supposedly said are based on how the Arab media itself relayed the comments.Michael Widlanski reported on this on IMRA:

As Israeli-Palestinian talks get started in Washington after last night's terrorist murder of four Israelis near Hebron south of Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority referred to the attack as a "military operation" in its English language web site.

( http://english.wafa.ps/?action=detail&id=14713 ) and in its Arabic web sites and programs.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that Palestinian leaders "condemned" what it called "the operation" because the PLO and the Palestinian Authority opposed "any acts against Palestinian or Israeli civilians." ( http://www1.wafa.ps/arabic/index.php?action=detail&id=84523 AND http://www1.wafa.ps/arabic/index.php?action=detail&id=84535 )

In essence, Palestinian leaders issued a limited and conditional warranty on the so-called peace process by issuing a limited official new report that was billed as a condemnation, when it really was not a condemnation.

The reports by the official PLO News Agency WAFA in Arabic and English, were more interesting for what they did NOT include:

• Neither the comments by Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad in Ramallah nor the comments by PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Washington called terror attack "terror" or "an attack," preferring to use the term "operation" (amaliyya ) and not "terror" (irhaab in Arabic) or "attack" (muhajama ).
• Neither statement condemned the perpetrators-the radical Islamic movement, Hamas-by name or as terrorists, but only said that the "operation" was "against Palestinian interests."
• Neither man was quoted at length directly, as the news agency reported their comments as indirect summaries of their views.

Meanwhile, the Voice of Palestine radio station controlled by Abbas and Fayyad repeatedly referred to the four Israeli murder victims as "settlers from settlements built on Arab land."

Chairman Abbas, who is considered a "moderate," is very hesitant to condemn Hamas directly for shooting at Israelis, and five years ago made public statement in which he called on Hamas to unite with his Fatah organization, saying, "let our rifles, all our rifles be aimed at the occupation (i.e. Israel)".

Abbas is in Washington, where he is meeting President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Needless to say, just as the Obama administration has done no more than pay lip service to insisting that Abbas and the Palestinian Authority end incitement against Israel--so too no one seriously expects the Obama administration, nor Secretary of State Clinton, to note that Abbas and the PA refuse to condemn neither the terrorist attack itself nor Hamas who is behind it.

It did not take long to reveal the peace talks to be a joke--a very bad joke.

Technorati Tag: Mideast Peace Talks and Abbas and Hamas and Terrorism.