Standing next to US President Joe Biden at their joint press conference, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas unblinkingly called to end “74 years of … occupation.” In other words, Abbas called for the end of Israel, as Israel was established in 1948 — 74 years ago:

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “After 74 years of Nakba [the establishment of Israel], expulsion, and occupation, has the time not come for this occupation to end, for our people that is standing firm to achieve its freedom and independence, and for the wishes of our young men and women … to be realized in a promising future without occupation?”

[Official PA TV News, July 15, 2022]

Making his intentions clear, Abbas added that the path to destroying Israel starts with creating a Palestinian state:

In this regard, we say that the key to peace and security in our region begins with recognizing [the] state of Palestine and enabling the Palestinian people to obtain their legitimate rights in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions, and ending all the permanent status issues, including the Palestinian refugees issue.

And the way to that begins with ending the Israeli occupation of our land, the land of state of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on the 1967 borders.”

[Website of the White House, July 15, 2022 — emphasis added]

Abbas’ speech was a momentary display of clarity and honesty.

On most occasions, when speaking before foreign audiences and leaders, Abbas sticks to the false message that the Palestinians only seek to create a Palestinian state comprised of Gaza, the West Bank, and eastern Jerusalem — living beside Israel.

For example, when speaking recently in front of EU Representative to the PA Sven Kuhn von Bergsdorff and other ambassadors of European countries, Abbas spoke of “the vision of the two-state solution on the 1967 borders,” a “Palestine” on only 22% of “historic Palestine,” as opposed to demanding “45%” of that area, as allocated by the 1947 UN partition plan for the “Arab country.”

In contrast to the conciliatory messaging designed solely for foreign consumption, domestically, as Palestinian Media Watch has consistently shown, the PA’s messaging to the Palestinian people is clear and unequivocal: Israel has no right to exist; its presence is fleeting; and it will be replaced by the “State of Palestine.”

As Abbas openly declared, establishing the Palestinian state comprised of the West Bank, Gaza, and eastern Jerusalem, is not the end game that will bring Israeli-Palestinian peace. Rather, from the point of view of the Palestinians, establishing the limited Palestinian state is just the beginning of the path to achieving the real goal of destroying Israel and freeing all the so-called “Palestinian territory” that has been “occupied” for 74 years.

While many people often blame Israel’s actions for the absence of peace, in reality, from the Palestinian point of view, the reason for the absence of peace is Israel’s very existence. Until these Palestinian attitudes change and they accept not only Israel’s de facto existence, but rather Israel’s moral, historical, just, and de jure right to exist, no peace will ever be achieved.

Lt. Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch, Adv. is the Head of Legal Strategies for Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.

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