Mahmoud Abbas twists the truth, as the Washington press corps idly looks on

Stephanie Gutmann
Telegraph.co.uk
11 June '10

On Wednesday Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas stood before the Washington press corps and the president of the United States, and blatantly twisted the truth. Nobody called him on it.

The president had been talking about peace in the Middle East in his usual triangulating way. “Both sides,” he intoned, “have to create… a climate… that means on the Israeli side, curbing settlement activity… on the Palestinian side — and I was very frank with President Abbas that we have to continue to make more progress on both security as well as incitement issues.”



By saying “incitement”, Obama used the long-standing abbreviation for Palestinian Authority initiatives designed to incite the Palestinian population against Israel using violent imagery and appeals to fear. This includes content on its state-run television channel, in its newspapers, in children’s textbooks, and government projects such as official ceremonies held to honour Palestinians who conduct suicide bombings in Israel.

By telling Abbas to “continue to make progress” Obama was handling Abbas with the softest of kid gloves, but apparently the Palestinian president couldn’t take even this very gentle criticism , because when it was time for him to address the press he delivered this blast of defensive rhetoric: “And I say in front of you, Mr President, that we have nothing to do with incitement against Israel, and we’re not doing that.”

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