Palestinian Authority accuses Israel of incitement
Palestinian officials claim that Israel is refusing to participate in the Committee on Incitement because of its interest in maintaining its own campaign of incitement.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — In light of repeated Israeli accusations that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has been inciting violence through the media, especially during the recent popular uprising, Palestinian officials want to convene the Tripartite Committee on Incitement. The committee’s main task is to monitor the content of Palestinian and Israeli media and school curricula to detect incitement by either party against the other.
Headed by the United States and consisting of Israeli and Palestinian representatives, the committee was agreed to in the Wye River Agreement of October 1998 and reaffirmed in the 2003 road map. Only a few meetings have ever been held. In February 2014, Israel rejected a PA request to convene, demanding a Palestinian confidence-building measure before agreeing to participate.
On April 5, during a meeting with a Romanian delegation at the Muqata in Ramallah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for reviving the committee, saying, “We have no objection to the forming of this committee to monitor incitement by both sides. As soon as the Israeli side approves the committee, we are ready to participate in it.”
Nimer Hammad, Abbas’ political adviser, told Al-Monitor, “We have always called upon the United States to activate the committee. Unfortunately, Israel does not want it, and the United States doesn’t comment or respond to our calls. Israel has been hampering the committee’s work since its inception, and the United States knows that. If Washington really wants to know who practices incitement, it should activate the committee. We are ready to participate in it.”
