Palestinian Authority Blames Israel for Islamic State Extremism

The Palestinian Authority has made a series of accusations tying Israel and the US with the atrocities committed by the Islamic State terror group. 

Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiator with Israel who is considered a moderate, was quoted on Sunday by Israel Radio as saying that the reason behind the extremism in the region is the continuation of the “Israeli occupation,” the suffering of the Palestinian people and the “terror” carried out by Israel and the “settlers.” He made these statements while expressing concern that the international coalition against the Islamic State would divert attention from the Palestinian issue, the Jerusalem Post reports.

This is not the first time PA officials have made such outlandish accusations against Israel and the US regarding the Islamic State (IS or ISIS).

Israel Imitates Islamic State, PA Claims

The official PA daily accused Israel in August of imitating the crimes of IS, which it created together with the US, a report compiled by the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) shows. Al-Hayat Al-Jadida wrote: “They destroyed the mosque of our lord Jonah [the prophet] in Nineveh. IS blew it up, along with all the other mosques that contained shrines of saints… This [ignorance] has peaked in [recent] years, with the radical terrorists of IS and those like them, who were created by Israel and the US, and are paving the way for Israel to act like them.”

Earlier on in June, the PA daily claimed that Israel was using the kidnapping and brutal murder of the three Israeli boys as an excuse to make “ISIS-like attack” on Palestinians.

PA: Islamic State is ‘the Work of the US’

The Palestinian Authority official daily published five articles over the summer accusing the United States of establishing the Islamic State, PMW reports.

The articles claim that the US has a long-term goal of controlling the Arab-Muslim states by dividing them through conflict and wars. IS’s war and other conflicts are all said to be the work of the US, PMW continues.

Al-Hayat Al-Jadida wrote on July 16th: “The wars in Libya, Iraq, Syria and Palestine were planned by the US in order to protect its interests… The ISIS, Islamic Front, and Al-Nusra Front (i.e., all radical Islamists) are Muslims from various countries the US is using to fight in Iraq and Syria, in order to fragment the unity of these two Arab countries… We are now more aware that the Americans, who want to fight for their own interests using Islamic, Jewish and Christian believers, are truly the head of the snake.”

On July 14th, PMW points out, the newspaper wrote: “ISIS, the perpetrators of atrocities and the groups that hoist the banner of religion seem to be raising their weapons in sync with Washington, and fight the US verbally, but in practice are killing their enemies. Is this a coincidence, or was it planned ahead of time?”. On July 3rd the paper stated: “The radical terrorists of ISIS and those like them, who were created by Israel and the US, are paving the way for Israel to act like them.”

As PMW reported in June, the current editor in chief of the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida was appointed by the presidential decree of PA head Mahmoud Abbas.

Extreme Terror Tactics

“IS has declared itself a Caliphate, thereby claiming religious authority over all Muslims; its goal is to bring much of the Middle East, including Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Kuwait, and Cyprus under its control,” PMW says. “To this end, IS has used extreme terror tactics, including decapitations, crucifixions and mass murders. They committed their latest publicized atrocity on Saturday when they beheaded David Haines, 44, a British national who was a relief worker in Syria.”

Written by: United with Israel Staff
(With files from ‘The Jerusalem Post’ and Palestinian Media Watch) 

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