Rashid Khalidi, the ardently anti-Israel Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University who served in the 1970s and early 1980s as a director in Wikalat al-Anba al-Filastinija (WAFA), the PLO press agency, has written an opinion piece in the New York Times in which he not only remarkably criticized President Barack Obama for being insufficiently supportive of the Palestinians but also excoriated Israel, deploying an array of distortions, misstatements and half-truths.

In his piece, using a variety of standard, Palestinian propaganda buzzwords, Khalidi makes the following accusations:

• Israel has      “illegally settled” Jews in Judea and Samaria, which refers to      inaccurately as the “occupied Palestinian territories.”  [ZOA: The      territory of Judea and Samaria was earmarked for Jewish settlement in 1920      at the San Remo Conference that drafted the League of Nations Charter.      This decision, enshrined in the British Mandate for Palestine that shortly      followed, has never been superseded by an internationally binding      agreement. Israel conquered these territories in 1967 from an illegal      occupier, Jordan. Judea and Samaria are therefore unallocated under      international law, not “occupied Palestinian territories.” Only Israeli      annexation or an Arab/Israeli agreement on its status could alter this –      something that has not occurred].

• Palestinians have been subject to “ghettoization” because many have not been able to visit      Jerusalem [ZOA:      It is typical for pro-Palestinian activists to support Palestinian      “resistance” then to complain that Israel institutes security measures to      protects its population which inconveniences Palestinian travel to places      like Jerusalem. Before the massive wave of Palestinian terrorism in 2000,      orchestrated by Khalidi’s former boss arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat in      response to a sweeping peace offer from then-Israeli prime Minister Ehud      Barak encompassing a Palestinian state in almost all of Judea and Samaria      and all of Gaza, huge numbers of Palestinians worked in Israel, large      numbers of Israelis sat in Palestinian cafes and vice versa. The wave of      terrorism – still on-going – changed all that].

• The “peace      process” has consisted of indulging Israeli intransigence over Palestine      in exchange for foreign-policy goals unrelated to the advancement of peace      and Palestinian freedom. [ZOA: In fact, under signed agreements      with the Palestinians, “Israeli intransigence” has consisted of ceding      over 40% of Judea and Samaria, 100% of Gaza, and handing over assets,      funds and even arms to the Palestinian Authority (PA), only to receive increased      terrorism and insecurity in return. The PA, in contrast, has not      implemented its commitments under Oslo to arrest terrorists, disband      terrorist groups, collect illegal weaponry and end the incitement to      hatred and murder in the PA-controlled media, mosques, schools and youth      caps that feed terrorism and bloodshed].

• “Toward the      end of his first term, Mr. Obama essentially abandoned his already modest      peacemaking agenda in exchange for a lull in Prime Minister Benjamin      Netanyahu’s campaign for war with Iran. Palestine was again sacrificed,      this time to bribe a belligerent Israel for temporary good behavior”      [ZOA: President Obama’s “modest” peace proposals called for a ban on      Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria, in keeping with Palestinian      demands for a future, Jew-free state; harsh condemnation of Israel merely      for approving Jewish construction in a Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem;      and a peace settlement involving total Israeli withdrawal to the 1949      ceasefire line ‘with agreed swaps,” despite the absence of any PA      concessions and the absence of the implementation of any Palestinian      commitments under the Oslo Accords. Both President Obama and secretary of      state John Kerry have indicated that they are seeking to further a peace      agreement along these lines].

• “The      American-led “process” has ultimately strengthened the Israeli far right      and made Palestinian self-determination more unattainable than ever”      [ZOA: The Israeli electorate, by its votes and repeated opinion polls over      several years, has shown consistently that it is willing to make      concessions for peace, but it is not willing to make further concessions      to unreconstructed, terror-sponsoring Palestinian partners who don’t      accept Israel as a Jewish state and will not sign a peace agreement with her.      If Palestinians had been prepared to make peace with Israel, they could      have had an Israeli agreement to a Palestinian state in almost all of      Judea and Samaria and all of Gaza as recently as 2000 and again in 2008      when former Israeli Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert      respectively made proposals to this effect but met no agreement or even      counter-offer].

• 5 million      Palestinians live in a state of subjugation or exile and 1.2 million      Palestinian Arabs live in Israel as second-class citizens [ZOA: Israeli      Arabs are full citizens who attend the same hospitals and universities,      use the same buses and post offices, walk in the same public parks, sit in      the same cinemas and – above all – vote in the same elections for the same      parliament as do Jewish Israelis].

• Israel’s      security fence, which has played a part in preventing Palestinian      terrorists from blowing up Jews in Israeli streets, is an “apartheid-style      wall.” [ZOA:      Other than availing himself of an opportunity to defame Israel as being      guilty of ‘apartheid,’ South Africa under apartheid had no wall – it had      discriminatory laws. In apartheid South Africa, non-whites could not be      treated in hospitals reserved for whites, nor attend cinemas or other      places of entertainment in white areas, use separate entrances in post      offices and so on and could not vote.       98% of Palestinians are under Palestinian control in Judea, Samaria      and Gaza; Palestinians can, and often are, treated in Israeli hospitals      and use Israeli facilities, transport, etc.]

• Refers to Hamas      as  “the militant group that controls Gaza” [ZOA: Hamas is      a terrorist organization recognized as such by the U.S. and the European      Union which calls in its Charter for the destruction of Israel (Article      1%) and the murder of Jews (Article 7). It has murdered hundreds of      Israelis and maimed thousands more in scores of suicide bombings and      hundreds of other attacks].

• Khalidi offered      not a word of criticism of the Palestinians – nothing about its continuing      promotion and glorification of terrorists and terrorism directed against      Israelis; the hate education and indoctrination of Palestinian children;      the denial of Jewish history and connection to Jerusalem and the land in      general; the corruption and wastage of the PA squandering the highest per      capita international aid in the world; and so on.