Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a tough love lecture to the AIPAC faithful this week, reflecting both the Obama administration’s “rock solid” commitment to Israel’s security and its doubts about the Netanyahu government’s courage and commitment to peace.
Rarely has a U.S. leader, especially one with her pro-Israel bonafides, been so blunt in public. It was a necessary message, but something was missing. She made only passing reference to a problem that in many ways is as serious as settlements and possibly more so — Palestinian incitement.
If incitement were simply a matter of name-calling, it wouldn’t be so important. But incitement goes much deeper, sending a clear message that Palestinian leaders do not consider Israel a legitimate state.
Palestinians agreed in the 1993 Oslo Accords to end the anti-Israel, anti-Jewish incitement, but as events of the past two weeks have demonstrated, it persists. Most disturbing is that it comes not only from the extremists but also the two leaders who the United States and Israel are banking on to chart the way to peace.
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, and his prime minister, Salam Fayyad, exploited the current Washington-Jerusalem settlement dispute as an opportunity to harden their demands and fan the flames of hatred.
Fayyad told foreign ambassadors that the Palestinian violence was sparked by “an assault by extremist religious settlers on the Temple Mount.” That was not just a lie; it was incitement.
Settlements are indeed an obstacle to peace — often intentionally — but most will disappear with a peace agreement and the rest will be absorbed within Israel’s new borders. But the incitement can continue long afterward.
Witness Egypt, where the media, mosques and government churn it out constantly, keeping the cold peace of more than 30 years from thawing.
Two incidents last week illustrate the problem. Near Ramallah, seat of the Abbas-Fayyad government, another memorial was dedicated in honor of the woman responsible for one of the deadliest terrorist incidents in Israeli history, the 1978 Coastal Road massacre that left 39 dead, including an American woman, and 72 wounded.
Making this terrorist a role model for Palestinian girls glorifies terrorism and murder and teaches hatred.
Meanwhile, the rebuilt Hurva Synagogue, which had been destroyed by the Jordanian army in 1948 when it drove all the Jews out of the Jewish Quarter, was rededicated last week in Jerusalem.
Abbas exploited the occasion to stir up anger and violence against Israel.
His government called on Palestinians to come to the Temple Mount to “save” the Dome of the Rock and the al Aksa mosque from (fictitious) plans to tear them down and build a Third Temple.
Hamas called for a “day of rage.” Perhaps for emphasis, rockets were once again being fired into southern Israel from Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Both Fatah and Hamas began speaking of the “Jerusalem Intifada.”
Clinton called the day of rage “purely and simply an act of incitement” in her AIPAC speech and urged Abbas and Fayyad “to redouble their efforts to put an end to incitement and violence.” But beyond that, the administration seems to pay scant attention to the problem.
The White House spokesman said “inflammatory rhetoric” was “not helpful.”
But there was no strong denunciation from the president or secretary of state,
no indication that they have emphatically told Palestinian leaders to cut it out. No sense of outrage as there had been with the announcement of new Israeli construction in disputed east Jerusalem.
Palestinians are not the only ones guilty of incitement, although on the Israeli side it is not as pervasive nor is it government sanctioned. Settler violence, housing demolition, a double standard of justice and incendiary rhetoric by prominent political leaders tarnish Israel’s image and inflame its Arab citizens and neighbors.
The most pernicious form of incitement has been the Palestinian campaign to delegitimize Israel and deny any Jewish claims to the land.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the AIPAC audience “the connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel … and Jerusalem cannot be denied.” Yet that is exactly what the Palestinians have been trying to do for years.
A key factor in Obama’s low standing among Israelis is the impression that he has been one-sided with his intense pressure on Israel to freeze settlements and almost indifference to Palestinian provocations.
For the most part, administration calls to end incitement have been brief, tepid and rare compared to the focus on settlements — and Palestinians have ignored them with impunity.
A settlement freeze is an important confidence-building measure. So is an end to incitement. It is the quickest and easiest thing Palestinians can do to help create a more conducive environment for peace.
Douglas M. Bloomfield is the president of Bloomfield Associates Inc., a Washington, D.C., lobbying and consulting firm. He spent nine years as the legislative director and chief lobbyist for AIPAC.