Having your cake and eating it as well

This article is a rather repetitive one by Khaled Abu Toameh from Gatestone Institute* which spells out, once more, the hypocrisy of the Palestinian Authority(PA) in calling on the Israelis to release yet more terrorists, as a precondition for continuing the "peace talks" (which might, to the cynical, be better labelled as the "you give us everything we want and then you can go to hell" talks). As it does every year, the PA is holding a "prisoners day" in which it celebrates the sacrifices made by those noble terrorists arrested, tried and imprisoned (under a very familiar and recognisable regime of the rule of law) by the Israelis.

The hypocrisy of this is exposed by an article, itself from a suspect source, but I'll come to that, that states that "its own security forces continue to hold hundreds, if not thousands, of Palestinians in prison, some tortured, some without trial.

This year alone, the Palestinian Authority has arrested 357 Palestinians accused of security/political offenses, 42 of whom are university students." Further, "[a]ccording to the report, prepared by the Hamas-run Ministry of Planning, all 357 detainees belonged to various Palestinian groups in the West Bank, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad." I trust you take the point about the report coming from a suspect source. Personally, I wouldn't trust either organisation further than I could throw them, left-handed, with tendonitis in the left wrist (and I'm right-handed, anyway).

(*) For those who don't know it, "Gatestone Institute [is] a non-partisan, not-for-profit international policy council and think tank is dedicated to educating the public about what the mainstream media fails to report in promoting:

• Institutions of Democracy and the Rule of Law;
• Human Rights
• A free and strong economy
• A military capable of ensuring peace at home and in the free world
• Energy independence
• Ensuring the public stay informed of threats to our individual liberty, sovereignty and free speech.

As you might gather from that language, it is based in the US, and is none the worse for that. Among its Directors is Douglas Murray, of The Commentator, a relatively, in economic policy terms, right-wing on-line paper which is generally pro-Israel, and also of The Henry Jackson Society, ditto.

By Brian Goldfarb.