In its April 10, 2022 editorial, the Palestinian Authority (PA) establishment daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida explained and justified PA President Mahmoud Abbas's published condemnation of the wave of Palestinian terror attacks in Israel in which Israeli civilians were killed. It emphasized that in his statements, Abbas had first condemned Israel's murder of Palestinians, and then, so that there would be no accusations by the international community that the PA maintained a double standard, he included as well a denunciation of the murder of the Israelis.
The editorial also stated that Abbas was using political language that the world understands and appreciates, and that his statements aimed first and foremost to denounce Israel, to depict it as responsible for the violence, and to deprive it of any pretext to continue with it. It was apparently written in response to Palestinian elements' criticism of the PA condemnation of the terror attacks.
The logo of the editorial in the Al-Hayat Al-Jadida daily (Source: Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, PA, April 10, 2022)
The following are translated excerpts from the editorial:
"There are those who take an entirely populistic and demagogic approach to the condemnation published by the [Palestinian] presidency about the murder of 'Israeli civilians.' According to this approach of theirs, [the condemnation] has nothing to do with principled positions; it is aimed [solely] as incitement against the Palestinian leadership – which has never manipulated words in its explicit and honest political discourse of clear positions regarding the various issues pertaining to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Its discourse never includes hollow slogans or populistic and emotional phrases…
"National responsibility requires wisdom to express the positions [of the leadership] regarding the fervor of the conflict, in language which does not manipulate principles and is not based on double standards [on the part of the international community], from which we still suffer. The condemnations [published] by the [Palestinian] presidency are actually aimed at condemning the Israeli occupation's tyrannical and violent policy toward our people – when it is [the occupation] that seeks to create and perpetuate a cycle of violence and to exploit it to carry out more acts of aggression and more violent reactions against our Palestinian people, especially on the part of the armed groups of the most extremist and racist settlers! No condemnation by the presidency has not first stressed that the murder of Palestinian civilians 'will lead to further deterioration of the situation. So that there will be no suspicion regarding a double standard, [the presidency] clarified [that this also applies to] 'the Israeli civilians.' This is the language of national responsibility, in its political verbiage – a language that is understood and appreciated by the world, because it is the language used by a responsible state to express its basic principles and its moral values.
"The Israeli occupation is always looking for any excuse to escalate its violent policy against our Palestinian people, with the aim of killing its will and its steadfastness, and [its will] to challenge and to mount legitimate resistance... Therefore, the presidency's condemnation is an attempt to prevent the occupation from using its excuse, such that it is obvious to the entire world that it is [the occupation] that conducts organized state terrorism that always aspires to cause an explosion [in the situation] with bullets fired from the rifles of its soldiers and its settler militias!!
"This is the language of national responsibility, with its clear message to the entire world. Perhaps it will awaken the conscience of the world to take action against the blood-drenched policy of the occupation, and to put an end to the cycle of violence created by it. This [can be done] by forging a path to a comprehensive and just sustainable peace, as the only, shortest, and safest way to provide security and stability to both peoples, Palestinian and Israeli."[1]
[1] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Palestinian Authority), April 10, 2022.
