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Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-895501
Abbas Holding Palestinians Hostage with Western Help
(Jerusalem Post) Danielle Greyman-Kennard - The West has helped Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, 90, keep the Palestinian people "hostage," Fatah political leader Samer Sinijlawi told the Jerusalem Post on Thursday, referring to the president who has held his position for 21 years. "I don't have any hard feelings towards Israelis, none. I have lots of hard feelings towards the West that keeps seeing us [Palestinians] as not 100% human beings who deserve democracy and internal human rights and keeps endorsing and embracing a leader who has been proving that he is a burden on his people for years." Like many held in Israeli prisons, he learned to speak Hebrew during his five-year sentence for throwing stones at Israelis during the First Intifada. Sinijlawi described how his ideology shifted during his detention, a shift he thinks Palestinian society should make. Part of this change would mean direct dialogue with Israel and a recognition that Palestinian freedom depends on Israeli security. "The only way to achieve things with Israelis is to try to convince them, touch their hearts and minds, and make them see that we are a qualified partner to achieve a solution for this conflict." He said Abbas "does not explain that if we, as Palestinians, did not place Israeli security as the basis of our national strategy, we would not proceed. And we do it not because we are doing them a favor, but we do it because it is the only way to achieve our national interest. You cannot promote the two-state solution and deny the historical rights of Jews in this land....It's not only the textbooks. It is the narrative that this leadership is continuing to push and does not have the guts to tell the Palestinian people that we should think differently." Sinijlawi explains that the "pay-for-slay" payments were a mistake. The "Palestinian leadership could say, 'From today on, we are not paying anything. So we are totally against any violence. Those who would like to resort to violence, it's up to them.'" Moreover, while educators and healthcare workers have had to settle for a fraction of their pay and reduced working hours, the PA has continued spending 35% of the national budget on security forces so that there is now one law enforcement officer for every 49 civilians, a ratio not seen in successful economies.