Detta diskuteras på sajten Jewish Virtual Library:
The definition of “moderate” is relative. Compared to Hamas, Hizbullah and Ahmadinejad, for example, Abbas can be viewed as a moderate since he explicitly negotiates with Israel. Abbas, however, has expressed no true willingness to compromise on any substantive issue, balks at true peace efforts and vehemently spews anti-Israel rhetoric that has significantly hampered the peace process in the past.
Många olika exempel radas upp på sajten, här är några som jag tyckte var särskilt anmärkningsvärda.
Abbas vägrar att erkänna Israel som en judisk stat:
Speaking to the Palestinian youth parliament in 2009, Abbas declared his refusal to recognize Israel’s Jewish character saying, “Call yourselves what you want, but I will not accept it… The ‘Jewish State’… I will not accept it.” 430 Abbas backed that statement again in September 2010, when he told members of the Hadash party it was an “unacceptable demand” that he recognize Israel as a Jewish state.431
Han stöttar terror:
Abbas is also supposed to have forsworn terror, but in February 2008, he told the Jordanian paper al-Dustur that he did not rule out returning to the path of armed “resistance” against Israel. In fact, his reason for not currently engaging in “armed struggle” is not because he has disavowed terror, but simply because he doesn’t believe the Palestinians can achieve their objectives without a coalition.
As he told the Arab League in July 2010, “If you want war, and will fight Israel [with us], we are in favor.” 432 Additionally, Abbas was one of the founders of the Fatah terrorist group and, in February 2008, he proudly claimed credit for initiating the terror campaign against Israel. “I had the honor of firing the first shot in 1965 and of being the one who taught resistance,” Abbas said.
The PA president even takes credit for training Hizbullah- “We had the honor of leading the resistance and we taught resistance to everyone, including Hizbullah.” 433
The daily newspaper of the Palestinian Authority, Al Hayat Al Jadida, whose budget is supplied by Abbas, has praised, honored and even eulogized martyred terrorists. The paper, for example, praised the Palestinian who murdered eight youths in a Jerusalem school in 2008, referring to him as having achieved Islamic martyrdom.
In 2010, Abbas eulogized the mastermind behind the massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics in which 11 Israeli athletes were murdered as “a leading figure in resistance and sincere work” who “sacrificed for his people’s just causes.”434
Han låter till och med förintelseförnekare sprida propaganda i palestinska myndighetens officiella kanaler:
Like Ahmadinejad, Abbas also allows Holocaust denial to spread under his watch. The official PA media outlet airs programs where Palestinian academics teach that Auschwitz and Dachau “never existed” and the Palestinian Ministry of Education produces schoolbooks which teach the history of World War II yet completely ignores the Holocaust and the extermination of six million Jews. 435
Bilden av Mahmoud Abbas som en demokratisk statsman är falsk. Det är djupt vilseledande att detta inte tas med i berättelsen om mellanösternkonflikten.