Abbas Offended At Gall Of Those Calling For Palestinian Accountability

He suggested Zionists lie behind the attempt to contaminate public discourse with notions of accountability, democracy, and fiduciary propriety.

Credit: Gobierno de Chile via Wikimedia Commons

Ramallah, May 1 – The Palestinian president voiced indignance today ahead of a conference on his administration’s financial situation that anyone could suggest he and his cronies answer for any of the problems facing his troubled society.

Mahmoud Abbas held forth at a meeting of his Fatah faction that dominates the Palestine Liberation Organization and runs the autonomous government in Palestinian self-rule areas outside the Gaza Strip. He lambasted critics both within Palestinian society and beyond it who demand accountability and responsible conduct from those entrusted with Palestinian governance, prosperity, and development. President Abbas made the remarks before departing for a conference of donors to the Palestinian administration, whose funds have gone largely unused in bettering Palestinian lives and instead line the pockets of Abbas, his political allies, and the families of Palestinians killed or imprisoned by Israel for killing Jews.

“The sheer brazenness of such claims should shock all of us,” stated Abbas. “Only a fool, a hypocrite, or a troublemaker would dare express such treasonous thoughts. Only someone thoroughly unfamiliar with, or hostile to, our cultural sensibilities and history would let such offensive ideas escape his filthy lips.” He further suggested Zionists lie behind the attempt to contaminate public discourse with notions of accountability, democracy, and fiduciary propriety.

Now in the fifteenth year of his first four-year presidential term, Abbas leveled similar criticism at calls for the Palestinian leadership not to incite violence. “People who seek to silence our patriotism deserve to meet a violent, painful end at the hand of noble warriors of our resistance,” he declared.

Aides to the president explained that notions of not steeping oneself and one’s family and clan in corruption and cronyism have seldom held traction in the region. “The very idea that one rules everyone and does not favor his own faction is a pernicious, invasive assumption brought to this land by the J- the Zionists, I mean,” noted Saeb Erekat. “Rule is and has always been by force. What’s not to understand? ‘Consent of the governed’ is an anomalous, dangerous concept, and the very thought that Palestinian leaders bear any responsibility for its people’s misery is contradicted by our ethos, rhetoric, and priorities. And you wouldn’t dare accuse me of being wrong when I say that. That would be racist and colonialist.”

An assistant to Mr. Erekat threatened a reporter with no further access to Palestinian leaders if the above statement resulted in reinforced negative opinions of the Palestinian leadership’s policies or positions.

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