The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has called upon the Obama Administration to end talks and funding for the Palestinian Authority (PA) following the three no’s PA president Mahmoud Abbas’ gave to President Barack Obama ––– no acceptance of Israel as a Jewish state; no renunciation of the legally baseless so-called ‘right of return,’ whereby Palestinian refugees of the 1948-9 war and their millions of descendants would be repatriated to Israel; and no end to conflict and claims against Israel, even if a peace settlement is signed by both sides. Abbas rejected all three requirements in his meeting with President Obama, rejecting in the process Secretary of State John Kerry’s framework document for continued peace talks with Israel (‘TV report: Abbas said “no” to Obama on 3 core peace issues,’ Times of Israel, March 22, 2014).
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “Mahmoud Abbas has provided further proof, if any were needed, that he and the PA he heads have no interest in a genuine peace with Israel, but is only working towards Israel’s destruction. It is perfectly clear that Abbas is simply another Arab terrorist whose goal is Israel’s destruction. His goal is not peace, nor is it a Palestinian state.
“Abbas three no’s eerily mirrors the infamous three no’s of the 1967 Khartoum Conference Resolution, at which the Arab states responded to their defeat in the 1967 Six Day War and Israeli offers of withdrawal from virtually all the territories captured in return for a peace agreement with a policy of no peace, no recognition and no negotiations with Israel. Tragically, nothing has changed where Abbas and the PA are concerned.
“No other conclusion can be drawn when Abbas says he will never accept Israel as a Jewish state, demands that Israel absorb millions of descendants of Palestinian refugees, rather than settling them in a Palestinian state to merge from negotiations, and refuses to accept that an end of conflict and claims is necessitated by a peace agreement.
“Abbas is saying in a way that cannot be mistaken that he wants Israel destroyed and that he will not rest until that happens.
“Abbas has now confirmed what we already knew of his extremist, anti-peace policy. After all, this is a man who wrote in a May 16, 2011 New York Times opinion piece that ‘Palestine’s admission to the United Nations would pave the way for the internationalization of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political one. It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice.’
“Abbas also addressed the UN General Assembly on September 23, 2011 and spoke of ‘the land of Palestine, the land of divine messages, ascension of the Prophet Muhammad ( and the birthplace of Jesus Christ’ –– a clear attempt at pretending that the land of Israel is sacred to Muslims and Christians, but not to Jews. Also, his reference to ’63 years of suffering’ indicates no Palestinian acceptance of responsibility for the original Arab aggression to snuff out Israel in 1948, from which all Palestinian suffering stems.
“In other words, Abbas has been telling the world publicly for years that, even if there is a Palestinian state established by agreement alongside Israel, there will be no end of the conflict, only a new phase of it.
“The American public clearly understands this. That’s why a National Omnibus Poll, conducted by McLaughlin Associates and published on January 17, 2014, which surveyed a large, nationwide cross-section of 1000 Americans, found that on the question, “Do you think that if a Palestinian Arab state were established, it would live peacefully with Israel or would it be hostile to Israel and support terrorism?,” 58% of Americans replied that a future Palestinian state would be hostile and support terrorism, whereas only 17% thought it would live in peace with Israel.
“The ZOA calls upon the Israeli and U.S. governments to forthwith end all further discussions with Abbas and the PA and to terminate all U.S. aid to them. U.S. aid for the PA was always predicated on the basis that the PA is a partner for peace with Israel. That proposition was never true and it has been conclusively disproved by Abbas’ latest positions as well as his long record of honoring and glorifying Jew-killing terrorists, refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, refusing to end incitement to hatred and murder within the PA-controlled media, mosques, schools and youth camps, and his refusal to arrest terrorists and ban terrorist groups.
(A list of Abbas’ pro-terror, anti-peace statements can be found here).