[Fear of failing?] Akiva Eldar carefully avoids hard questions in interview with PA PM

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
02 April '10
Posted before Shabbat

Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:

If Akiva Eldar was certain that Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad really had answers to the hard questions he would ask them. And he would follow up on PA PM Fayyad's soft answers.

But Akiva Eldar doesn't do this.

Now if Akiva Eldar genuinely believes that Fayyad can handle the hard questions he does him a disservice.

And if he avoids hard questions because he doesn't want to hurt the Palestinian cause he is doing a disservice to his readers.

Here are some questions:

(1) Throwing rocks and firebombs is a form of "peaceful protest"?

(2) You demand that all Palestinians held by Israel be released now. Israel is holding Palestinian cop Mahmoud al-Khatib who recently murdered an Israeli soldier. Are you saying that al-Khatib should also be freed?

(3) What is your position on the right of Jews to immigrate to Israel and become citizens while the same right is not provided for Arabs with family ties to locations within Israel?

And there's more.

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Palestinian PM to Haaretz: We will have a state next year
By Akiva Eldar Haaretz Last update - 11:44 02/04/2010
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1160513.html

RAMALLAH - Next year, "the birth of a Palestinian state will be celebrated as a day of joy by the entire community of nations," says Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in an exclusive interview to Haaretz.

Relaying Passover greetings to the Jewish community, Fayyad hopes Israelis will also participate in the celebrations for the birth of a new state.

"The time for this baby to be born will come," he says, "and we estimate it will come around 2011. That is our vision, and a reflection of our will to exercise our right to live in freedom and dignity in the country [where] we are born, alongside the State of Israel in complete harmony," says Fayyad, 58.

He also welcomed the Quartet's announcement of two weeks ago in Moscow, which supports the PA's August 2009 plan to establish a state within 24 months.

(Read full article)
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