MYTH: The Palestinian Authority is Moderate and Seeks Peace

PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein (religious leader of the PA) preaches the genocide of Jews at a rally.

FACT: The Palestinian Authority (PA) is a radical and pro-terrorism regime that seeks the annihilation of the Jewish state. The PA frequently endorses terrorists, radical speakers, and anti-Semitic education. PA President Mahmoud Abbas publicly honors freed terrorists as “heroes” and “martyrs.”  The PA names streets, shopping centers, sports stadiums, and summer camps after the terrorists that have killed the most Jews. The PA also grants stipends to imprisoned terrorists and their families – a salary up to 5 times higher than that of the average citizen.

Many senior PA officials also advocate for terrorist attacks against civilians. In a televised interview in February 2014 – when negotiations between the PA and Israel were still ongoing – Senior PA official and Fatah Central Committee member Jibril Rajoub stated, “We have never given up our arms. We never left the battlefield, and we have never raised a white flag…An armed resistance is on the table…As I’ve told you, we want to maintain the state of conflict between Palestine and the occupation.” Around the same time, Abbas Zaki, a senior advisor to President Abbas, admitted on Syrian TV that the “two-state solution” is simply the next step in destroying all of Israel.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas awards Samir ‎Ghattas an ”Order of Merit” in June 2014 for advising Abu-Jihad (a PLO founder and planner of attacks that killed 125 Israelis) and for planning three separate attacks himself.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas (right) awards Samir ‎Ghattas an ”Order of Merit” in June 2014 for advising Abu-Jihad (a PLO founder and planner of attacks that killed 125 Israelis) and for planning three separate attacks himself.

Also around the same time, Abbas himself honored three released terrorists at a public rally. One terrorist he honored murdered an elderly Holocaust survivor with an axe; one murdered a police offer; and one murdered 15 Palestinian-Arabs on suspicion of collaborating with Israel.

A Pew study conducted in 2014 shows that out of all Muslim countries and territories, support for suicide bombings in the Palestinian Authority is the third-highest in the world at 36 percent. This high number is most likely the result of the PA’s decades-long incitement and pro-terror campaign against Jews and Israel.

The PA also revives the ‘Jews killed Jesus’ line to ignite hate. In late 2013, PA President Abbas declared Jesus a “Palestinian” and a PA security forces newsletter published a poem: “Who will save Christians from the ones who killed Jesus?”

Overall, a regime that incites its people to hate and kill Jews and a regime that openly calls for the destruction of Israel – and trains its people to achieve that goal – is not “moderate” and does not seek peace.

To learn more about the true face of the Palestinian Authority, please view ZOA Campus’s fact sheet on Palestinian-Arab incitement.