Senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub said on Sunday that the group’s strategy for resisting Israel’s planned application of sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria is peaceful “popular resistance,” but “our fingers are on the triggers.”
“We will not raise a white flag,” Rajoub said at a press conference in Ramallah, adding that peaceful resistance is important to ensuring international support for Palestinian Arab efforts to thwart the Israeli move.
“We do not believe in a transition to the ‘bloody square’, as we do not believe it serves our cause at this moment,” Rajoub continued.
At the same time, he warned that in the event that Israel applies sovereignty, those conditions might change.
Rajoub also attacked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, saying he acts with “the logic of a neighborhood gangster.” While Netanyahu may have been democratically elected, “so were Hitler and Mussolini,” he added.
The PA is outraged over the coalition agreement between Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, which stipulates that the government can apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria as soon as July 1.
PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ adviser, Nabil Shaath, warned last week that "if Israel insists on annexation, we will no longer abide by the rules in the confrontation against them and an intifada will occur."
Saeb Erekat, Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said last week that an application of sovereignty over even “one inch” of “occupied Palestinian Territory” would mean an extermination of any chance of peace in the region.
In response to the planned sovereignty move, Abbas announced last month that the PA would no longer be bound to any of the agreements with Israel.
The PA has also taken its battle against the sovereignty plan to the United Nations, seeking official condemnation by the international body against the Jewish state.
