When Palestinian Tragedy is No Tragedy at All

Those Europeans do go on and on and on about it. As do many other, such as Canadian former diplomats, British Jews, and even some Israelis. They are all horrified by the idea that Israel will extend her sovereignty over her own land in Judea & Samaria. They all warn of Arabs who will be so upset that their violence and hostility will know no bounds. Some, for example, historian-journalist Ian Black, predict tragedy.

However, they make the huge mistake of not distinguishing between the Palestinian Authority leadership and the Palestinian Arab population. Anyone who has been paying attention knows that the general population is fed up with those who claim to represent them. Reporter Zvi Yehezkeli got into his car and drove out to see what the general population thinks. I provide a translation into English below the video, which is a promo for his full television report.

For over two decades I report on the PA, from Arafat and Abu Mazen, and, let us say, there is a gap between what the leadership says and what the public says. This time, in anticipation of ‘annexation’, I decided to ask people what they feel without a camera disturbing them. I simply took eyeglasses with a camera fitted in them, so they will feel comfortable in conversation — to bring out what they say in conversations at the checkpoint, in the street — and the results are surprising. I found that the Palestinians feel exactly the opposite of what their leadership says. It appears that a blue identity card (Israeli) and annexation is what will save them from the horrors of the PA and, most important, if they were to talk openly in front of a camera, as one man said, “They would hang me.” So this evening on the news, impressions using the camera-fitted glasses in the PA.

You can read a brief summary of the report in World Israel News in English. If you can understand Hebrew, you can view Yehezkeli’s entire video (ten minutes long) in the report on the Channel 13 News site.

At the beginning of his TV report, Zvi Yehezkeli notes how:

When the question arises regarding what the Palestinian people think, a gap opens between what the people want and declarations made by their leaders. I saw over the two decades of Arafat rule: What he wanted the people were compelled to want. But with Abu Mazen and his people it is different: he wants one thing and the people want something else and do not hold back from saying so. When the PA wanted to burn the streets, the public wanted permits to work in Israel.

This is indicative of the views – the PA leadership wants to keep the conflict going and the people just want to live decent lives.

And I want to thank Waheed Tahan for bringing the following post to my attention:

The drawing shows the emblem of the Palestinian Authority and the words, il-nihaya, which means: The End. Here are two sample comments under this post:

The end of a brave man…failed martyr project.

Lord, let it be near.

Start paying attention to what the Palestinian Arab residents of the PA want. If you support their human rights, you need to know what they want and not what you think they should want. Otherwise, you are just being anti-Israeli and you know what that means, right?