Hard-line Fatah leader in running to succeed Mahmoud Abbas
Senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub has taken a harsher stance toward Israel throughout the tensions surrounding the murder of Israeli and Palestinian teenagers.
The case of the kidnapped and murdered Israeli teens in Hebron is still at the forefront of the Palestinian situation. The Palestinian leadership has been convening since the bodies of the kidnapped were found on July 1, for fear of major reactions. Al-Monitor learned that President Mahmoud Abbas has during the past days made contacts with Washington and European countries to prevent Israel from carrying out a retaliatory military operation.
While Abbas has kept a more conciliatory and empathetic tone when addressing Israel since the beginning of the crisis, as he denounced the kidnapping, Maj. Gen. Jibril Rajoub, the deputy secretary of Fatah Central Committee, has been quite harsh in his comments on the situation.
In a statement issued on July 2, he warned against any Israeli escalation of the situation, while things were taking a serious turn, threatening to go back to chaotic violence, especially after the negotiations reached a stalemate. Rajoub insinuated that the Palestinian Authority (PA) would take other measures to protect its people from the “organized state terrorism” practiced by Israel against unarmed Palestinians in cities, rural areas and refugee camps, without commenting on the killing of the settlers.
It was surprising that Rajoub, 62, took a different position from that of the PA in denouncing the abduction and killing of the three teenagers. Rajoub stated, “Kidnapping is the only language understood by Israel, thus it is the only way to free our prisoners that Israel refused to release. The kidnapping of Israeli soldiers is the only solution to make Israel release the Palestinian prisoners detained in its prisons and who are increasing on a daily basis.”
