The Palestinian Authority “wouldn’t last one day” if Israel withdrew from Area B and C of Judea and Samaria, asserted Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon (Yisrael Beytenu). Hamas would take over the PA just as it did in Gaza.
Fresh off a trans-oceanic flight, the Deputy Foreign Minister gave a far-ranging briefing on Thursday to a packed house at the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations in New York City in anticipation of his representation of Israel at the annual Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Donor’s Conference.
On the PA’s finances, at the PA Donor Conference, Dep. FM Ayalon said he will explicitly state that the PA gives 12,000 shekels per month to terrorists locked up in Israeli jails who have murdered Israeli children, instead of paying Palestinian teachers to teach Palestinian children.
This is 6 times the average Palestinian wage.
Also, he intends to add, the PA spends untold millions on Abbas’ massive personal entourage on world-wide political jaunts in the most expensive hotels in the most expensive capitals in the world, instead of paying its own employees who actually work in the Authority.
On PA-Israel relations, Ayalon said he will tell it like it is. The PA refuses to sit with Israel, and instead engages in world-wide incitement and de-legitimization of Israel, including its unilateral UN General Assembly (GA) bid at the UN:.
“The UN should follow the recent South Sudan model, where South Sudan was only admitted to UN after bilateral negotiations with North Sudan that reached an agreement”, because recognition by the General Assembly will be the functional “end of the political process” Danon argued.
On the global “Palestinian refugee” issue, Ayalon was adamant, stating that the Palestinian refugee issue is a greater obstacle to peace than Jerusalem, and is growing worse day by day because of the special UNWRA definition of a “Palestinian Refugee” which includes descendants of refugees, at total variance to the non-Palestinian UNHCR’s definition of “refugee”.
The Israel-Arab conflict is the only conflict in the world where the descendants of refugees remain defined as “refugees.” Israel’s integration of Jewish refugees should be the model for the Palestinian refugees to settle in Arab countries, Danon said.
“Better late than never,” he said about Jews from Arab lands refugee claims for restitution. But if it is not started now, he warned, there will be no documentation or “testimony” available as a record to prove the tragedy in the future.
In what was a stunning first-ever announcement of Israel’s interpretation of the UN’s 1967 Resolution 242, Danon said 242 is the bedrock of any peace process – and 242 specifically refers to the resolution of the “refugee” issue meaning not just Palestinian refugees, but all refugees including Jewish refugees from Arab countries.
On US-Israel relations, Ayalon claims that Israel and the US see eye-to-eye on Iran, and that Israel’s US relationship is based on bi-partisan US support. “Israel has no greater ally than the US… Israel has no greater friend than President Obama,” he declared.
Regarding the “Arab Spring,” Ayalon says democracy is a “frame of mind” rooted in Western values. Due to Islamist political movements, the “Spring” has been hijacked into a “Winter” by Wahabi and Hizbullah extremists who reject Judeo-Christian values of tolerance and freedom which the West cherishes.