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6 April 6 • 2017 jn 6 April 6 • 2017 jn Arthur M. Horwitz Publisher / Executive Editor ahorwitz@renmedia.us F. Kevin Browett Chief Operating Officer kbrowett@renmedia.us | Editorial Managing Editor: Jackie Headapohl jheadapohl@renmedia.us Story Development Editor: Keri Guten Cohen kcohen@thejewishnews.com Arts & Life Editor: Lynne Konstantin lkonstantin@renmedia.us Editorial Assistant: Sy Manello smanello@renmedia.us Senior Columnist: Danny Raskin dannyraskin@sbcglobal.net Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar rsklar@renmedia.us Contributing Writers: Ruthan Brodsky, Suzanne Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Don Cohen, Shari S. 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OUR JN MISSION 1942 - 2017 Covering and Connecting Jewish Detroit Every Week jn views essay Culture Clash New report: West Bank Palestinian leaders fortify terror. P alestinian aggression through incitement and terror — not via issues involving borders, settlements, refugees, holy sites, water rights or Jerusalem — is likely the unconquerable obstacle to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This drumbeat of hate is wrought by anti-Israel govern- ment indoctrination played out in Palestinian classrooms, mosques, news outlets, sports tournaments and music videos. Undeniably, Israel lacks a legiti- mate negotiating partner. The Palestinian Authority, which governs Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank, and its lead fac- tion, Fatah, leave a lot to be desired as agents of peace. The blunt reality is that Fatah and many of its leaders have openly sup- ported terror as a methodology — both during the terror wave of 2015-2016 and into 2017. So reports Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). The Israel-based communications watchdog commands respect in the West for monitoring Palestinian pronouncements of terror against the Jewish state. TAINTED LEADERS On March 16, PMW founder and direc- tor Itamar Marcus presented "Fatah Votes for Terror" to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East. The special report spot- lighted those elected last December to the Fatah Central Committee, which works with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. "These are the people who will be determining the policy of Mahmoud Abbas' party" and thus "the policy of the Palestinian Authority in the coming years," Marcus asserted. "Will they lead the Palestinian people toward peace or continued animosity and terror?" Not surprisingly, evidence points to the latter. That raises red flags in imagining peace prospects under current Palestinian leadership. The terror wave of 2015-2016 "was not a series of spontaneous lone-wolf attacks by isolated Palestinians, but rather was the Palestinians' response to the leadership's call for violence," PMW concluded in its report. CHILLING DISCOVERY The special report, relates Marcus, documents "how the Fatah Movement responded to individual Palestinians murdering Israeli civilians in stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks during the terror wave from September 2015 to mid-2016." It was a gruesome stretch that saw 40 people murdered — 36 Israelis, one Palestinian, two Americans and one Eritrean, according to PMW. Hundreds were wounded. PMW found the Fatah Movement as well as prominent Fatah Central Committee members "actively support- ed the terror carried out by individual Palestinians and publicly encouraged more attacks." Consider these haunting findings: "Some supported the terror by partici- pating in or sponsoring activities honor- ing murderers of civilians. Others justi- fied the murders of Israelis as accept- able defense of the Al Aqsa Mosque, which they claimed was 'in danger.' Still others claimed those Palestinian terrorists who were killed while attack- ing Israelis were innocents murdered in cold blood and for no reason by the Israeli police, who 'fabricated' the attacks." PMW found that no Fatah leaders at any time denounced even one terror attack or murder during the 2015-2016 terror wave "because they insisted, and continue to insist, the term terror can never be applied to any Palestinian attack or murder of Israelis." NO LET UP The PMW report contains examples of how Fatah continues to brazenly incite and glorify terror with no regard for, or perhaps in defiance of, international consequences. One post cited from Fatah's official Facebook page on Feb. 7, 2017, under- scores this horrific wish: "We march; we are not afraid of the fire and we do not fear death. With blood, we will redeem the homeland and saturate its ground. The anniversary is approaching." Fatah, which began as the principal military arm of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Palestinian people's lead negotiator and global represen- tative, recently marked 52 years as a movement. Even President Abbas has repeatedly justified terrorist murders, saying after 14 Israelis had already been killed and dozens injured in the 2015-2016 wave: "We want peaceful, popular uprising, and that's what this is. That's what this is." He said that on official PA TV on Nov. 16, 2015. That's a stunning worldview of peaceful uprising. This is the Palestinian leader much of the world, including the U.S., considers moderate enough to negotiate with. The JN hasn't budged in its support of a two-state solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. But we're resigned to that way forward never gaining trac- tion until Palestinian leaders and the culture they represent realign toward a desire for real peace. FANTASY TIME In a March 16 interview with the Qatar newspaper Al Watan, President Abbas said he hopes U.S. President Donald Trump finds resolution to "the Palestinian issue after 70 years of occupation" — a solution "based on two states, a Palestinian state that will live in security and peace alongside the State of Israel." That's well put, but illusory. Four days earlier, Abbas declared that Israel's "occupation" of the West Bank Robert Sklar Contributing Editor continued on page 8