PA: 'Pals never miss opportunity to miss opportunity' is 'incitement, racist'

Former foreign minister Abba Eban’s famous 1973 quote that “the Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity” is a form of racism and incitement against Palestinians, the Palestinian Authority said on Monday.A report by the PA’s official news agency Wafa detailing “incitement and racism in Israeli media” cites an article published in The Jerusalem Post’s sister publication Maariv as “evidence of incitement and racism” against Palestinians.The July 10 article, written by former ambassador to the US Zalman Shoval, quoted Eban’s statement, and accused Palestinian leaders of working to “thwart in advance any Israeli or international initiative that would put them on the road to genuinely and ideologically accepting the existence of the State of Israel.”Added Shoval: “The Palestinians never miss an opportunity… to miss an opportunity – or to use a more common idiom, to shoot themselves in the foot – the late Abba Eban quipped in his day.”Referring to the article, the PA news agency said it was yet another example of Israeli “incitement” against the Palestinian leadership.The report also cites a number of opinion pieces published in Israeli newspapers and statements by Israeli officials as examples of “incitement” and “racism” against the Palestinians.One of the articles mentioned was a news story in Yediot Aharonot on the recent Jerusalem District Court ruling that the PA is liable for civil damages for a series of terrorist attacks carried out mostly during the Second Intifada.“There’s no need to analyze the article,” the PA news agency said. “Incitement against the Palestinian Authority and its leadership is very clear. Israeli right-wing legal groups are trying to legalize their incitement against the Palestinian people through the ‘judicial’ system. Thousands of Palestinians have been killed by soldiers and settlers as a result of the ongoing incitement by [Israeli] politicians and Israel’s policy of brainwashing against the Palestinians.”Another example of anti-Palestinian “incitement” and “racism” mentioned in the PA report refers to an article published in Maariv by Jerusalem attorney and journalist Nadav Ha’etzni.In his article, Ha’etzni blasts Arab MKs for seeking to undermine the Jewish state and for engaging in anti-Israel rhetoric. The article points out, however, that not all Israeli-Arabs place the Palestinian issue at the top of their list of priorities, and says they are happy to live in Israel.The author, the PA report said, “like several Israeli journalists and politicians, is trying to delegitimize Arab members of the Knesset by separating them from their people.”The report also cites Facebook comments by Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman as further proof of Israeli “incitement” and “racism” against the Palestinians.The report mentions a July 13 Facebook post by Regev in which she attacks former prime minister Ehud Barak, who is running in the upcoming election as head of the new Israel Democracy Party. Regev was commenting on a statement by Barak in which he said that if elected, he will see to it that Israel’s borders are defined within two years, adding that the border would prevent the need to annex millions of Palestinians.According to the PA report, Regev’s response to Barak also falls under the category of “incitement” and “racism” because she said: “We have a border – the Jordan Valley. Anyone who changes it will harm Israel’s security.”Netanyahu’s July 11 statement that he won’t allow the eviction of any settler in a future political settlement is also cited by the PA as an example of “racism” and “incitement.”Netanyahu made the statement at an event at Revava marking the 40th anniversary of the Samaria Regional Council.Another example of Netanyahu’s “incitement” and “racism” against Palestinians, according to the PA report, is his order to the Jerusalem Police to remove a monument erected in the neighborhood of Isawiya in east Jerusalem for a resident who was killed when he launched fireworks at police officers. The prime minister’s spokesman said that “at the request of Prime Minister Netanyahu and in coordination with Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and enforcement officials, a monument was removed in Isawiya in memory of a terrorist.”The PA report accuses Liberman of “incitement” and “racism” because of his recent criticism of Netanyahu for failing to take tough measures against Hamas and Iran.