(Gatestone Institute) Khaled Abu Toameh - While the Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to arrest and intimidate Palestinian journalists in the West Bank, its loyalists are also waging a campaign against Arab journalists who dare to visit Israel. This month alone, PA security forces have arrested nine Palestinian journalists, while Hamas detained three more. Palestinian leaders seem emboldened by the fact that the international community and media are oblivious to the plight of Palestinian journalists. When a group of Arab journalists from Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria and Morocco recently visited Israel, the PA Ministry of Information said normalization with Israel is "an unacceptable crime under all circumstances." The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, dominated by Abbas loyalists, said it is preparing a blacklist of Arab journalists suspected of engaging in normalization with Israel. If, in the eyes of the PA leadership, normalization with Israel is an act of "treason" and a "big political and national sin," the Trump administration may be wasting its time on a peace plan at this time. To achieve peace with Israel, Palestinian leaders need to prepare their people - and all Arabs and Muslims - for peace and compromise with Israel, and not the exact opposite, as they are now doing.
2019-01-29 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive