Report: Abbas’ Party List for Upcoming Elections Includes Terrorists and Their Relatives
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by Benjamin Kerstein
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meets with Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit (not pictured) in Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 31, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Mohamed Abd El Ghany.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party has placed convicted terrorists and relatives of terrorists in high positions on its list for the upcoming PA elections, Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported Thursday.
Second on Abbas’ party list is the widow of one of those responsible for the notorious 2001 attack that killed Israeli 10-month-old Shalhevet Pass, during the second intifada.
In addition, a former security prisoner from Jenin — who killed an Israeli named Moti Biton in 1992 and was later released as part of a goodwill gesture to Abbas in 2013 — has the tenth spot on the Fatah list.
Another released security prisoner, a man from Hebron who received a life sentence before being let go in another deal and was later imprisoned for 15 years during the second intifada, holds the fifteenth place on the list. The legislative elections, announced by Abbas in January, are scheduled for May.
Fatah is not the only party to place terrorists on its election slate. The list endorsed by infamous Palestinian terrorist Marwan Barghouti — who is serving a life sentence in Israel on several counts of murder — has former prisoner Fakhari Barghouti, who was given a life sentence for murdering an Israeli bus driver, in tenth place.
The Palestinian Authority’s Office of the Prime Minister did not respond to an Algemeiner request for comment.
Kan also reported that Abbas has refused to take a telephone call from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The incident reportedly occurred within the last two months. Contacts were made in order to facilitate such a conversation, but members of Abbas’ inner circle demanded that President Joe Biden personally call instead.
No such call has taken place so far, but Palestinian and US officials are considering whether to set up a discussion between Blinken and PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh or head of the PA’s General Authority of Civil Affairs, Hussein Al-Sheikh.
