Delegation

The General Delegation of the PLO to the United States strongly condemns the racist and inciting remarks against Arabs and Palestinian prisoners made by Israel’s Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday.

In light of Israel’s decision last Sunday to release 104 Palestinian prisoners, Bennett commented to Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot “If you catch terrorists, you have to simply kill them.” Bennett proceeded by spewing more incitement: “I’ve killed lots of Arabs in my life – and there’s no problem with that.” Bennett’s calling for the murder of Palestinian captives is a blatant disregard to international law and the Third Geneva Convention, which delineates the protections entitled to prisoners by international law upon their capture. It is extremely alarming that a public Israeli official at the ministerial level calls for murder and utters explicitly racist remarks without being held accountable.

The General Delegation of the PLO to the United States calls on the international community and the US in particular to condemn Minister Bennett’s remarks against Palestinians.…

The General Delegation of the PLO to the United States expresses great concern with the House Republican Conference’s reception of Dani Dayan, the former head of the Yesha Council of Settlements. His efforts are part of a campaign to launch a “diplomatic arm” for the illegal settlements and should not be entertained.

During his visit to Washington, Dayan met with Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the chairwoman of the committee’s Middle East subcommittee; and Rep. Pete Roskam. The House Republican Conference reportedly described the leaders’ attitude toward Dayan’s ideology as “sympathetic.” Such description is very troubling for anyone concerned with a constructive role for the US in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Dayan and his toxic ideologies are also being pampered in US media. Over the last year, the New York Times published two of his columns and wrote an article praising him for being “worldly and pragmatic.” Last month, USA Today gave Dayan the space to publish a column propagating his lies and attempts to legitimize Israel’s illegal settlements, which are in violation of international law. Despite persistent efforts by the PLO Delegation to get equal opportunity to respond to Dayan’s statement, our requests have so far gone unanswered.

Dayan’s visit is especially concerning given its brazen attempt to undermine Secretary Kerry’s efforts to revive the political process. Entertaining a zealous opponent of the two-state solution like Dayan in the halls of Congress and in the media sends the wrong message about US commitment to peace in the region.

The General Delegation of the PLO to the United States urges American leaders to take a firm stand, at this crucial time, against those who are obstructing the political process. We also call upon the media to commit to a balanced coverage of the conflict and refrain from entertaining settler leaders like Dayan, who are threatening the prospects of peace in our region.…

Before the unrest, disagreements between the Fulani and Dogon were often settled through negotiation.

But the uprising – which had spread to the centre of Mali by 2015 – decreased government control and increased the availability of weapons.…

Prior to his appointment to Washington, Mr. Areikat was bestowed the rank of Ambassador by Chairman of the PLO and Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Maen Areikat served for 11 years at the Negotiations Affairs Department (NAD) of the PLO in Ramallah, most recently as its Deputy Head and Coordinator-General (2008-2009). Areikat first joined NAD in 1998, when it was headed by current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), and served as its Director-General until March 2008. In addition to overseeing NAD’s day-to-day operations, Mr. Areikat was responsible for overseeing the work of the Negotiations Support Unit (NSU), which provides legal, policy, communication and technical support to Palestinian Negotiating Teams and to the Palestinian Leadership

Prior to his service at NAD, Chief Representative Areikat spent six years at Orient House (1993-1998), the headquarters of the PLO in Jerusalem and of the Palestinian Negotiating Team to the Madrid peace talks. While at Orient House, he served as spokesperson for the late Mr. Faisal Husseini, former PLO Executive Committee member in charge of Jerusalem Affairs, and later as Desk Officer for the U.S., Canada, Australia and South Africa in Orient House’s International Relations Department. Chief Representative Areikat previously took part in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations at Beit Hanoun/Erez in Gaza and Taba in Egypt in 1996, in Jerusalem in 1997 and was an official member of the Palestinian delegation at the Wye River negotiations in 1998.…