A recent article in The Washington Post by Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa should convince even the Biden-Harris administration that the P.A. is not part of the solution in Gaza or elsewhere.
Any post-Hamas governing entity in Gaza must be willing and able to stop attacks against Israel, and vigorously combat weapons smuggling. This will require working very closely with Israeli security forces. Hamas is badly weakened but not yet destroyed. Significant military operations will be necessary for some time to prevent Hamas from re-emerging. If it was not clear before Oct. 7 that Hamas prioritizes the destruction of Israel and killing Jews over the safety and economic development of Gazans, that is undeniable now. Hamas cannot be allowed any governance role.
A crucial task of the entity will be completely revamping the school curriculum to support peace with Israel and delegitimize terror. Polls show the vast majority of Palestinian Arabs support the Oct. 7 attack. Gaza needs fundamental change, like the denazification of Germany after World War II.
Mustafa provides the P.A.’s perspective on Oct. 7 and vision for the future. Despite some perfunctory rhetoric about “a better future for all people in the region” he makes clear the P.A. opposes the tasks required of a post-Hamas authority.
The article begins: “Five weeks ago marked 300 days of the war on Gaza.” Mustafa does not even mention, let alone condemn, the Oct. 7 invasion of Israel by Gazans.
Instead, Mustafa argues, “Such levels of mass killing, destruction, forced displacement and starvation of our people are unprecedented in recent history. … Schools and hospitals, once havens, have become targets …War crimes and massacres weigh heavily on a people who have suffered far too long.”
The accusations are completely baseless. Israel does not target civilian schools and hospitals. Hamas systemically uses schools and hospitals as military bases, giving Israel no choice but to target Hamas in those locations.
Mustafa does not explicitly mention Hamas. But he calls for a “nonpartisan” government staffed based on “technical” needs, that would give Hamas significant influence. Although his proposal for a police force is generally vague, he specifies the force must include Gazan police “personnel both before and after 2007,” which is when Hamas took control. He said the personnel must be “vetted” but does not elaborate to what end. Hamas has vetted those serving after 2007 to ensure devotion to jihad against Israel.
Although repeatedly making inflammatory accusations against Israel, Mustafa cannot bring himself to use the word “Israel,” except for one reference to the “Israeli military occupation.”
The article calls for assistance to the PA from various international bodies, specifically mentioning three that have failed spectacularly: the World Bank, the United Nations Relief Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) and the European Union Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM). The World Bank played a prominent role in Gaza’s 2005 disastrous transition following Israel’s withdrawal, eventually leading to the Hamas takeover in 2007. EUBAM was put in charge of monitoring the Egypt-Gaza border crossing to prevent weapons smuggling. Instead of doing their job, EUBAM forces fled upon the 2007 Hamas takeover. For 75 years, UNRWA has exacerbated, instead of resolving, the Palestinian Arab refugee problem to perpetuate the war against Israel. UNRWA has recently turned more destructive, employing terrorists and supplying electricity to Hamas’s server farm located under UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters.
Mustafa proved unwilling to even put on a reasonable facade. But the PA’s actions demonstrate it is no peace partner whatever it might say in The Washington Post.
The war crimes accusation echoes the P.A.’s lawfare against Israel at various international bodies, such as the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. These defamatory claims inflame passions against Israel and Jews around the world, including in the United States.
As antisemitism mimicking Soviet propaganda explodes globally, it is not coincidental P.A. leader and Fatah head Mahmoud Abbas has a Ph.D. in Holocaust denial from the USSR. This is not just ancient history. Last year, Abbas explained the Holocaust was not motivated by hatred, but by the role of Jews in usury and money.
Abbas, in the 20th year of his four-year term, recently gave a speech to Turkey’s parliament hailing Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and others who were “martyred” battling Israel, and asserted that “America is the plague.” Fatah, which runs the P.A., boasts of having participated in the Oct. 7 attack, which the P.A. refuses to condemn. Fatah says that such attacks will be repeated until Israel is destroyed. P.A. security personnel are an integral part of terror attacks against Israel. The P.A. continues “pay for slay” under which it rewards those committing terror attacks against Israel, including Oct. 7.
The P.A. is faithfully pursuing the mission of the PLO and Fatah, which were founded before 1967 for the purpose of destroying Israel, not for establishing a state in the territories later taken by Israel in the Six-Day War, that were then occupied by Jordan and Egypt.
In 1974, following the failed Yom Kippur War against Israel, the PLO revised its position that armed struggle was the only method of dealing with Israel. Instead, it adopted the “Phased Plan,” under which the PLO would use any land obtained from Israel to destroy the Jewish state. Abbas’s predecessor, Yasser Arafat, explained the Oslo Accords were never intended to achieve peace, but part of the Phased Plan.
Mustafa’s repeated invocation of the “steadfast” struggle against Israel is not about peace, but a reference to Arafat’s claiming steadfastness as a strategy for building the capabilities to eventually militarily destroy Israel. The PLO called its alliance against Anwar Sadat’s pursuit of peace with Israel the “Steadfastness and Confrontation Front.”
Abbas appointed Mustafa as prime minister in March in response to demands by U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for a “two-state solution” with a “revitalized” P.A. Mustafa’s article demonstrates the danger of the Biden-Harris administration’s push to leverage Oct. 7 to establish a P.A. state.