David Bloom of WW4 Report has posted the following excerpt from a report by Amit Cohen that was published, Bloom writes, “in the center-right Israeli paper Ma’ariv in Hebrew on Sept. 19″:
Abu Mazen instructed his general “Slaughter them”
The clip [shown at the Ma’ariv link] apparently shows a meeting in Abu-Mazen’s [President Mahmoud Abbas] bureau in Gaza in which members of the preventive security force identified with [Fatah strongman in Gaza] Muhammad Dahlan participated. When meeting the older gentleman dressed in black uniform, Abu Mazen asks him “are you the head of the preventive security force.” When the answer is in the affirmative Abu-Mazen says one word, “slaughter [them]” [translation by Sol Salbe]
It’s not surprising that Abbas would issue the order and be so easily exploited. The humiliation of Abbas has moved into the arena of bad slapstick.
Mahmoud Abbas has to stay home. As things stand right now, he must not go to Washington. Even his meetings with Ehud Olmert are gradually turning into a disgrace and have become a humiliation for his people. Nothing good will come of them. It has become impossible to bear the spectacle of the Palestinian leader’s jolly visits in Jerusalem, bussing the cheek of the wife of the very prime minister who is meanwhile threatening to blockade a million and a half of his people, condemning them to darkness and hunger.
If Abu Mazen were a genuine national leader instead of a petty retailer, he would refuse to participate in the summit and any other meetings until the blockade of Gaza is lifted. If he were a man of truly historic stature he would add that no conference can be held without Ismail Haniyeh, another crucial Palestinian representative. And if Israel really wanted peace, not only an “agreement of principles” with a puppet-leader that will lead nowhere, it should respect Abbas’ demand. Israel should aspire for Abu Mazen to be considered a leader in the eyes of his people, not only a marionette whose strings are pulled by Israel and the United States, or affected by other short-term power plays.
Right now power rests with the powerless Abu Mazen. Since Washington – and perhaps Jerusalem as well – badly want the photo-op otherwise known as a “peace summit” to show off an “achievement,” Abu Mazen could and should threaten to boycott the meeting to try and force some achievement on behalf of his people. Palestinians live in Gaza, too – an area controlled by Hamas, which Abu Mazen so loathes: He cannot continue to ignore the inhumane conditions in which Gazans live, caged in by Israel.