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Lebanese journalist Nadim Koteich mocked a statement by Palestinian ambassador to France in an October 14, 2020 show on Sky News Arabia (UAE). The ambassador had said that the Palestinian resistance has gone on for 100 years, and it will go on for 100 years more. He said that the ambassador is free to pledge another 100 years of resistance because he doesn't actually have to live in Palestine. Koteich added that the Palestinians received an opportunity to establish a prosperous state in Gaza, after Israel withdrew from the Strip in 2005, however, they destroyed it. Koteich said that the UAE succeeded in turning warring tribes and chiefdoms into a prosperous union, while the Palestinians have done the exact opposite, creating warring factions upon factions. He said that the Palestinians could stand to learn from the UAE, and should not criticize it.
For more about Nadim Koteich see MEMRI TV clips no. 8001, 7769, 7668, 7221, 7140 and 5675.
Nadim Koteich: "Mahmoud Abbas' ambassador [to France, Salman El-Herfi,] said: 'Our resistance has lasted for a century, and we are ready to continue our resistance for 100 years more.' He lives in Paris and all his children work for the embassy and the foreign ministry. You idiot! You idiot! That is what the entire conflict boils down to.
"For 100 years, you have been going from one defeat to another, and from a foolish gamble to an even more foolish one. Now someone is telling you: Stop, take a deep breath, and think about things in a different way. You regained Gaza in 2005. What did you do with it? You immediately and automatically turned the liberation into a civil war. You have turned the two-state plan into the following two states: One in Gaza and one in the West Bank. You signed an agreement that put you on the track toward a state. You had an airport in Gaza where world leaders landed.
"Today, thanks to the resistance, sheep graze at your Gaza airport. All of its buildings are ruined. Who would help you regain territories, if Gaza is your model project? Who? According to the peace agreements, the Palestinians are supposed to get a state. The size of that sate would be five times the size of Singapore, and three times the size of Hong Kong. The GDP of both countries is $340 and $350 billion respectively, whereas the Palestinians GDP does not exceed $15 billion.
"This is what you have lost because of the idiotic slogan: 'Our resistance lasted for a century and we are ready to continue 100 years more.' From where will you continue the resistance for another 100 years? From Paris?
"Abbas' ambassador hurled personal insults at the UAE leaders. That's no big deal. What's important is that he should focus on his country's interests, to his cause and to his people. In 1971 – that's 50 years or half a century ago – the leaders of the UAE united a group of warring chiefdoms and tribes. They were united into a prosperous and powerful country, which may be seen as a role model in the Middle East.
"At the same time, the Arabs placed the Palestinians on the track for statehood, but the latter turned this potential state into a bunch of warring chiefdoms and tribes. The tribes of Gaza fight the tribes of the West Bank. The tribes of Hamas fight the tribes of Fatah, and within both of them, there are smaller tribes. The national Palestinian movement can learn a lot from the Emirati one, but I do not think that the Palestinian national movement has any lesson to teach anyone in the world, and certainly not to the UAE."
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