RAJOUB LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG

This week the Lebanese television news station Al-Mayadeen broadcast an interview it held with Jibril Rajoub earlier this month. Rajoub, it should be recalled, is one of the big darlings of the Israeli “peace camp.” He is a signatory of the Geneva initiative and is a long-time partner of many of the people who conceived of the Oslo process.

And this is what the historic partner said: “We Palestinians are Israel’s enemies-and no one else. We are the source of Israel’s worries, we are here on this land, and this land is ours. They are our enemies and our war is against them…not just as Palestinians, but as Arabs and as Muslims.”

And for the benefit of anyone still in doubt, he said that “for the moment, we have no nuclear weapons but, by God, if only we did, we would start using it this very morning.”

Rajoub spoke during a visit to Lebanon, where he also met with the Iranian ambassador in Beirut, Ghadanfar Abadi.

So what happened after Rajoub let the cat out of the bag-did anyone confiscate his VIP card? Did anyone arrest him when he returned to Ramallah? Did anyone ask his boss, Abu Mazen, to stop paying his salary and relieve him of his duties in the PA? Did anyone from the Geneva initiative people announce that they were severing all contact with Jibril Rajoub and his associates? You know the answer-nada.

So what is Abu’s Palestinian Mazen Authority going to do to Rajoub? Don’t make me laugh. And what will Netanyahu do to anyone who continues to employ him? Precisely the same thing as has been done against senior PA officials who, each day, dedicate some square in Judea and Samaria to one terrorist or another. They will act exactly as they acted against the people who incite against Israel and the Jews in the official PA media. Sermons in which we are accused of every possible crime, from poisoning wells to drinking the blood of Palestinian children. They will act precisely the same way they’ve acted up until now against people who teach Palestinian schoolchildren that the State of Israel doesn’t exist at all-not Tel Aviv, not Raanana and not Kiryat Arba: they will do nothing, as usual.

And how will the pathetic figures that comprise the peace camp react? What, for example will Shimon Peres say? Will anyone back away from their theories about the opportunities we are missing in our talks with our Palestinian partners? Don’t make us laugh. And by the way, there is nothing new here under the sun.

It isn’t as if Jibril Rajoub suddenly changed his spots either. That is how he, his associates and his bosses have always talked to the Arab media. Just like Yasser Arafat and Abu Mazen. It is we who continue to deceive ourselves, it is we who continue to play make-believe, playing a particularly lethal form of Russian roulette.

Only a few months ago I attended a trial at the Jerusalem District Court in which Rajoub was declared personally responsible for the kidnapping and torture of a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem, whom he had suspected of collaborating with Israel.

That man was kidnapped and tortured 14 years ago-Rajoub and his Authority have been working that way since [the PA’s] inception. It is only we who exercise restraint, and act as if driven by a death wish.

And in fact, Rajoub is right-he and the Palestinian leaders in Judea and Samaria (including the West’s current darling, Salam Fayyad): they really are our worst enemy, and the stronger they get, the more they will try to hurt and damage us.

And so, until we put an end to the existence of the PA, we will continue to endanger the fate of the State of Israel. We continue playing this game of national Russian roulette and, who knows, we might end up firing a live bullet.