Palestinian PM tells EU: “God help us, the EU and the whole world if there are four more years of Trump.”
By Paul Shindman, World Israel News
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh testified Monday before the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday, saying the Palestinians are hoping that President Donald Trump loses the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
“The election is very important. God help us, the EU and the whole world if there are four more years of Trump,” Shtayyeh said via video from his office in Ramallah.
Shtayyeh said that between now and January 2021 there are two key events, a possible Israeli election that might be called in December and the U.S. presidential inauguration.
“These two important events will have very serious consequences on us, on the peace process and on the future role of Europe when it comes to the Middle East,” he said.
“Trump has wasted four years of everyone’s time,” Shtayyeh complained, saying the president’s promise of an ‘ultimate deal’ not only was never delivered, but was rejected by the Palestinians.
“The U.S. is just too biased,” Shtayyeh said, slamming the U.S. for cutting aid to the PA over its refusal to stop the “pay-for-slay” policy under which Shtayyeh’s government annually hands out hundreds of millions of dollars in regular payments to convicted terrorists, or what the PA calls “martyrs.”
Questioned by Swedish parliament member Charlie Weimers about whether European taxpayers’ money would be used for terrorism, Shtayyeh said in a blatant denial of facts that the “Palestinian leadership has never accepted terrorism” and has called for “peaceful resistance.”
The Palestinian prime minister downplayed the recent peace agreements Israel signed with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, calling it “calculated self-interest” by the two Gulf states, which he said still support the two-state solution.
“We are angry, because we wanted it to be done collectively, not by individual states,” Shtayyeh said, rejecting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that the peace deals showed a new policy of “peace for peace.”
“The answer is land for peace, not peace for peace. You cannot impose peace; it is only by compromise and agreement,” Shtayyeh said.
Shtayyeh called on the EU to help with proposed Palestinian elections, saying he was ready to accept a victory at the polls by the Hamas terror group.
“I hope Hamas doesn’t win the elections [but] we are ready to accept the results,” he said.
However, despite the talk, those elections are not likely to happen anytime soon. Shtayyeh’s government remains at odds with Hamas, which ousted Fatah from Gaza in a bloody 2007 military coup.
A recent Palestinian public opinion poll showed that if elections were held now the Fatah Party headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would most likely lose to Hamas.
13/10/2020 by WORLD ISRAEL NEWS
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