Abbas Admits Trump Yelled at Him over Incitement – Report

PALESTINE - ISRAEL, 5 Jun 2017

The Times of Israel – TRANSCEND Media Service

Speaking in Arabic at PLO executive committee meeting, ‘tense’ PA leader reportedly says US president expressed anger, confirms meeting was ‘uncomfortable.’

US President Donald Trump, left, and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas pose for a photograph during a joint press conference at the presidential palace in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on May 23, 2017. (AFP/Mandel Ngan)

1 Jun 2017 – Following insistent Palestinian denials that US President Donald Trump shouted at Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about Palestinian incitement against Israel during their meeting last week, Abbas has conceded — in Arabic — that the story is true, according to a report by the London-based Qatari news site al-Araby al-Jadid.

Channel 2 News reported earlier this week that during their talks in Bethlehem last week, Trump yelled at Abbas and accused him of direct involvement in incitement against Israel.

“You tricked me in DC! You talked there about your commitment to peace, but the Israelis showed me your involvement in incitement,” Trump was said to have shouted at a shocked Abbas.

The TV report said the outburst was followed by several minutes of stunned silence from the Palestinians, and that the meeting was very tense before the two sides managed to get back on track.

Palestinian sources denied the report, saying the meeting was comfortable and substantive.

US President Donald Trump (L) is welcomed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the presidential palace in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on May 23, 2017. (Thomas COEX / AFP)

According to Palestinian sources quoted by the Qatari site, however, Abbas told an executive committee meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization in recent days that his encounter with Trump was “uncomfortable.”

Abbas confirmed that the US leader expressed anger with him, accused him of inciting against Israel, and showed him videos that included one in which Abbas was recorded as saying, “We incite and the Israelis incite.”

Abbas said he then told Trump that the videos only showed selections which had been edited and taken out of context.

He said he told the US leader, “You have the CIA, ask them to analyze the film clips and you’ll discover that that they were taken out of context or fabricated with the aim of inciting against the Palestinians.”

Trump’s anger was the result of Israeli government incitement against Palestinians, Abbas claimed he told the US president, according to the sources.

On May 3 in Washington, at the first meeting between the two, Trump urged Abbas to stop incitement, crack down on terrorism, and “resolve” his government’s policy of paying stipends to terrorists and their families

Abbas, for his part, told Trump in their joint White House press conference that “we are raising our youth, our children, our grandchildren on a culture of peace.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a video message to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, calling on him to crack down on incitement, which was published on July 15, 2016.
(YouTube screen capture)

In the wake of that claim, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Abbas for the remark, saying it was “unfortunately not true.” The PA, Netanyahu charged, “names their schools after mass murderers of Israelis and pays terrorists.”

Israel has accused the Palestinians, including Abbas’s Fatah party, of fanning hatred on social media and calling for violence against Israelis.

Palestinian officials have generally countered the claim by arguing that draconian Israeli measures and decades of occupation, not incitement, instill hatred and inspire terrorism.

A report released in April from the Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) group found that PA textbooks in first to fourth grades were demonizing Israel and glorifying “martyrdom.” The document cited an “alarming deterioration” in content since the previous study.

The issue of incitement has taken on increasing significance of late, as members of the US Congress have threatened to decrease US aid to Palestinians if PA-sponsored incitement is not curbed.

On Wednesday, it was reported that the Danish foreign minister had ordered a review of his government’s donations to Palestinian Authority non-governmental organizations, apparently following a request Netanyahu made to him during a meeting in Jerusalem last month to stop Denmark’s funding for Palestinian NGOs involved in anti-Israel incitement or promoting boycotts of the Jewish state.

On Sunday, the United Nations announced it had withdrawn support for a Palestinian Authority women’s center named for a notorious terrorist, saying the move was “offensive” and glorified terrorism.

The West Bank center was named after Dalal Mughrabi, who took part in the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre. Mughrabi and several other Fatah terrorists landed on a beach near Tel Aviv, hijacked a bus on Israel’s Coastal Road and killed 38 civilians, 13 of them children, and wounded over 70.

“The glorification of terrorism, or the perpetrators of heinous terrorist acts, is unacceptable under any circumstances,” the UN statement said. “The UN has repeatedly called for an end to incitement to violence and hatred as they present one of the obstacles to peace.”

The UN move came days after Norway’s foreign minister condemned the PA for naming the center after Mughrabi, demanding the country’s name be removed from the building and that the funds it donated for its construction be returned.

In the al-Jadeed al-Araby report, the sources cited by the paper described the PLO executive committee meeting as tense and said Abbas exploded in anger in response to several members’ questions.

At the same meeting, Abbas reportedly slammed what he called a “conspiracy” by political rivals from within his Fatah party and from other organizations to exploit the recent hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails in order to undercut his authority.

Go to Original – timesofisrael.com

Join the BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS campaign to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation’s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.

DON’T BUY PRODUCTS WHOSE BARCODE STARTS WITH 729, which indicates that it is produced in Israel. DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!

Share this article: email mastodon facebook 🔗 copy link

DISCLAIMER: The statements, views and opinions expressed in pieces republished here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of TMS. In accordance with title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. TMS has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is TMS endorsed or sponsored by the originator. “GO TO ORIGINAL” links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the “GO TO ORIGINAL” links. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Comments are closed.