Zoabi lashes out at Abbas' 'betrayal' of Palestinians for condemning kidnappings
"Abbas wants to strengthen his power," MK says as Palestinian Authority chief reassures Israel he is dedicated to finding missing teens.
By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMANMK Haneen Zoabi.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Balad MK Haneen Zoabi continued outflanking Palestinian officials Saturday when she accused Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas of betraying his people by condemning the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers.Zoabi caused a storm last Tuesday when she said that the kidnappers of Naftali Fraenkel, Gil-Ad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah were not terrorists. She added fuel to the fire with her attack on Abbas on Channel 2’s Meet the Press program on Saturday.“Abbas’s goal is to strengthen his hold on power,” she said. “His military coordination with Israel is a betrayal of the Palestinian people.”Zoabi accused the IDF of busying itself with arresting Palestinians rather than searching for the teens. “I don’t know if there was a kidnapping,” she said. “Netanyahu is not trying to reach targets but to infiltrate and kill Palestinians.”MK Ahmed Tibi (Ta’al) responded Friday to the death of a Palestinian teenager Thursday night that occurred during the IDF operation to find the three missing boys in the West Bank, saying that “the Israeli government is exploiting a tragic event and executing ongoing war crimes in the occupied territories.”Mohammed Dudin, 15, was reportedly killed in the village of Dura, near Hebron in the southern West Bank, close to where the three Israeli teenagers went missing eight days ago.Tibi condemned the “destruction of hundreds of homes and offices,” “mass arrests” and the “shooting of civilians and demonstrators” carried out by the IDF.Reenat Sinay contributed to this report.
