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Guest Column

Editorial

Mahmoud Abbas and
Barack Obama meet in
the Oval Office.

It's A Compelling
c*udent Promise

E

4a estin • ns PI
► AMIni-Intifaar

-

n attempt to persuade U.S. to pressure Israel.

here are many signs that the Palestinian
Authority (PA.) is seeking to escalate
tensions in the West Bank ahead of U.S.
President Barack Obama's visit to the region this
month.
Although the P.A. probably does not want an all-
out confrontation between Palestinians and Israelis
at this stage, some P.A. officials in Ramallah believe
that a "mini-intifada" would serve the Palestinians'
interests, especially on the eve of
Obama's visit.
The officials hope that scenes of
daily clashes between Israeli soldiers
and Palestinians in the West Bank will
prompt Obama to exert pressure on the
Israeli government to make far-reaching
concessions to the P.A.
This is why the P.A. leadership has
been encouraging its constituents lately
to wage a "popular intifada" against
Israel, each time finding another excuse
to initiate confrontations between
Palestinians and Israel.
Now the P.A. is using the issue of Palestinian pris-
oners who are on hunger strikes in Israeli prisons as
an excuse to call for street protests and clashes with
the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
In recent days, dozens of Palestinian protesters
have been injured in clashes with IDF soldiers in
various parts of the West Bank. The protests are
being held in solidarity with four hunger strikers.
Before that, the P.A. used the issue of settlements
as a reason to call for widespread protests in the
West Bank.
Before that, the P.A. leadership encouraged
Palestinians to protest against Israeli "plans" to
destroy the Aqsa Mosque and replace it with the
Third Temple.
By encouraging a "popular intifada," the P.A. lead-
ership is hoping to bring the Palestinian issue back
to the top of the agenda of the U.S. administration
and Israel.
P.A. officials have in recent months expressed
concern over the lack of interest in the Palestinian
issue both in the U.S. and Israel.

36

March 7 • 2013

The Palestinians have been absent from speeches
delivered by Obama over the past few months, and
the majority of parties that ran in the last Israeli
elections did not even mention the Palestinian issue.
But now that all eyes are once again turned
toward the Middle East in anticipation of Obama's
planned visit, the P.A. is working hard to draw
the world's attention to the Palestinian issue, and
hoping to achieve its goal by encouraging clashes
between Palestinian protesters and the
IDF and Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
Although the violence has thus far
remained on a low flame, it is expected
to intensify as the date of Obama's visit
approaches.
The belief in the P.A. is that the vio-
lence on the ground will push Obama to
exert pressure on the Israeli government
to comply with the Palestinian conditions
for resuming the peace process, namely a
full cessation of settlement construction
and the release of Palestinian prisoners
from Israeli jails.
There is also talk in Ramallah about organizing
demonstrations during Obama's visit to the West
Bank, where he is scheduled to meet with P.A.
President Mahmoud Abbas. The demonstrations will
be held to protest against U.S. "bias" in favor of Israel.
The P.A. leadership is hoping that the anti-U.S.
protests will scare Obama and force him to exert
even more pressure on Israel.
The P.A:s message to Obama: You must act quick-
ly against Israel before things get out of hand.
It now remains to be seen whether Obama is
aware of this attempt to put pressure on him, or
whether he will continue to turn a blind eye to the
P.A.'s new-old tactic of initiating an escalation with
the hope of extracting concessions from the U.S.
and Israel. ❑

Originally published by the Gatestone Institute, www.

gatestoneinstitute.org. Khaled Abu Toameh, an Israeli

Arab, is a veteran award-winning journalist who has been

covering Palestinian affairs for nearly three decades,

including for the Jerusalem Post since 2002.

ducation is central to clearing the jungle of poverty
enveloping so many Americans — up to 50 million,
says civil rights leader Jesse Jackson. The former
Democratic presidential candidate joined Rabbi Daniel Syme
in a thoughtful conversation in Detroit's cultural district
about the endangered middle class in America.
The Feb.12 conversation was held at the Detroit
Historical Museum and was cosponsored by Dan Gilbert's
Detroit-based Quicken Loans and Temple Beth El, the
Bloomfield Township synagogue with deep Detroit roots.
The event raised money for Detroit College Promise (DCP)
and Jackson's Rainbow Push Citizen Education Fund, both
great choices as beneficiaries of a discussion on the neces-
sity of literacy and more collaboration between the black
and Jewish communities.
Like its model, Kalamazoo Promise,
DCP is designed to lift public-school
enrollment and promote a college-
preparatory track. From 2009 to
2012, DCP gave 388 Detroit students
about $110,000 in scholarships as
well as guidance toward other college
funding opportunities. The DCP board
includes well-respected DCP founder
Nat Pernick of Bingham Farms.
Nat Pernick
Good schools are essential to ulti-
mately rebuilding Detroit and bring-
ing jobs and hope to young Detroiters. But a barrier is the
disarray of Detroit Public Schools — its crumbling tax base,
crime-laden grounds and tired teaching tools. Graduation
and dropout rates are among the worst in the nation. Some
of the lost students are good students who left for other
districts or for private or charter schools.
Jews appreciate the values of learning, which nurture our
love for Torah. Even as we sustain our day and synagogue
schools, Jewish Detroit must be an influential voice in the
changeover of the sorry state of Detroit's public schools.
DCP can only do so much.

❑

irdn Should Not Be
Under-Estimated

1

ran has installed centrifuges at its largest nuclear
enrichment plant that could be used to generate radio-
active material for a nuclear weapon, the U.N. nuclear
watchdog reported.
Yet, Iran says its nuclear plans have a strictly peaceful
purpose. The likelihood: The Islamic Republic has an atomic
bomb in mind with Israel a potential target.
The civilized world should take heed of the International
Atomic Energy Agency report, which claims Iran installed
180 advanced IR-2m centrifuges at its Natanz plant. They
can produce 3-5 times more nuclear material than current
centrifuges.
Meanwhile, Iran claims to have uncovered new uranium
deposits.
Given Tehran is thought to be almost out of sources for
raw uranium because of international sanctions designed to
halt development of nuclear arms capability, you don't need
to be a nuclear scientist to guess the intended use of the
new deposits.

❑

