Third intifada will closely follow annexation, top PA official warns
Asked by the interviewer whether there was the possibility of a third intifada, Shaath replied: "Absolutely."
By DONNA RACHEL EDMUNDSPalestinians man a burning barricade on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem's Old City as they fight violent clashes with Israeli Border Police, December 8, 2000 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Israel can expect a third intifada if it moves ahead with annexation of parts of the West Bank, an advisor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said.In an Arabic-language interview with France 24 TV, Nabil Shaath said the Arab nations would stand by the Palestinians as they have done in the past. He went on to say that the world was changing, and that America would lose its dominance over international affairs within the next five years.Asked by the interviewer whether there was the possibility of a third intifada, Shaath replied: "Absolutely. We have the right to confront them [Israel] on the ground everywhere," according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute.He continued: "I will never forget that one day after [Ariel] Sharon entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the outbreak of the [Second] Intifada, [Saudi] King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz sent his plane to me, to Amman, and I flew to Riyadh, where he pledged $1 billion to support the Intifada. The offer came from him. If this continues and if the economic siege on us continues, our brothers will stand by our side and the world will stand by our side by imposing sanctions on Israel."Israel murders the peace process and international law," he added.Not only the Arab nations, but also the European nations oppose annexation, he said, contending that Europe cannot support annexation because if they did, they would have to restore the Roman Empire."[I]f we return to annexations that rearrange all the borders in the world [...] I would like to remind you that all of Europe was once part of the Roman Empire. If the Zionist principle is applied to Europe, Italy will have the right to regain Europe in its entirety," he said, adding: "I'm kidding. I don't think this will happen, but the idea that a country can occupy land, plunder it, and then legally annex it is entirely unacceptable in Europe."Plans to annex Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, of up to a third of the West Bank, are currently on the table as they were proposed within President Trump's 'Peace to Prosperity' peace plan for the region. America has also been an important intermediary between Israel and the Palestinians in the past. However, Shaath insisted that America was losing its dominance on world affairs, and that emerging superpowers looked more favorably upon the Palestinian cause."I believe that the US will not continue to be the sole leader of the world for longer than 4-5 years," he said. "China will become a giant. Putin's Russia is different than Yeltsin's. In spite of Brexit, Europe plays an independent role. Gradually, we are moving back to a multi-polar world, and this will allow for a small country like Palestine to fight the American-Israeli influence and the attempt to steal and attack its land."During the interview, Shaath was also asked about his experience teaching Trump while the President was a student at the Wharton School of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1960s.According to Shaath, he taught Trump financial management and economics for three years at the school."He could not accrue enough credits to continue, so the university terminated him, and he returned later, after I had already left," Shaath told the interviewer. "This was not about me specifically – it happened in all his studies.Shaath continued: "He was not a good student, and he was always surrounded by a group of friends on whom he spent money. After that, our relations were cut off. My relations with him as a student did not inspire much trust."According to the Jewish Virtual Library, a website run by the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE), Shaath gained his PhD at the Wharton School, departing the USA for Cairo in 1965.In mid June, a senior PA official told The Jerusalem Post that the authorities weren't inciting for violence - but added that the PA won't stop Palestinians from protesting annexation, even though it could lead to chaos in the region.“We’re not calling for a third intifada,” the official said. “We are just warning that Israel’s actions and measures could lead to a new intifada and destabilize security in the region.”
