Spanish media ignores Mahmoud Abbas blaming the Palestinian people for the Second Intifada and exonerating Yasser Arafat.

It's frequent for Spanish media to cite both Israeli and non-Israeli Jews criticizing Israeli attitudes, and even to interview them in order to know what they want to say. What is not so frequent is to cite and to interview those Arabs or muslims (both Palestinians and non-Palestinians) who criticize the other party (although some exceptions are made, such as Mosab Hassan Yousef, though he attracted little attention here in Spain).

One of the last examples of a Palestinian criticizing Palestinian attitudes was Mahmoud Abbas, who recently claimed that the Palestinian Second Intifada was a mistake. Apart from the fact that he blames (again) Netanyahu-led Israeli Government for the freezing of the peace process (in spite of Netanyahu's statements regarding his desire to talk face to face to Abbas, being the Palestinian leader the one who rejected this proposal), what is more surprising to me is the fact that he blames the Palestinian people for the uprising, exonerating Yasser Arafat.

But to find out about Mahmoud Abbas' statements, I had to rely on AURORA DIGITAL, an Israeli news website. Then I checked Spanish dailies El País, El Mundo, Público, ABC, La Voz de Galicia and La Vanguardia, and I couldn't find the same information.

Mahmoud Abbas' statements were made during an interview for the Egyptian television, as explained in AURORA DIGITAL's article, published on Wednesday, May 26, 2010, under the title Abás: la segunda intifada fue nuestro peor error (Abbas: the second intifada was our worst mistake). Excerpts from the article below (translated as accurate as possible, between quotation marks):

"Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, admitted that the second intifada was a great mistake by the Palestinian people.

Army's radio quoted Abbas saying in an interview for the Egyptian television channel 'Nile TV', that 'this was one of the worst mistakes of our lives. (Former Palestinian leader Yasser) Arafat didn't want the second intifida to break out, but he was unable to control it.'

'My slogan, since the second intifada broke out, was that it had to be stopped, because violence destroyes us, and in fact it did it', he said, adding that 'Arafat was pragmatic instead of an extremist'."

The article follows with accusations against Israel, statements regarding Arabs' desire for peace and accusations against Iran for distancing Hamas from al-Fatah.

Apart from the fact that Yasser Arafat was actually an extremist responsible for terrorist attacks against innocent Israelis; apart from the fact that he sought genocide against them; apart from the fact that the network of armed organizations he was leading was active in terrorist activities against innocent Israelis during the al-Aqsa Intifada; appart from the fact that during the al-Aqsa Intifida he gave speeches and made statements inciting to violence against innocent Israelis; appart from all of that and many other issues, what is surprising to me is that Abbas blames the people he is currently representing and leading, his own people, for the uprising which led to the deaths of innocent Israelis and Palestinians, freezing peace negotiations.

He said this in a public interview for the Egyptian television. And Spanish mainstream media just shut up, but those Israeli and non-Israeli Jews who criticize Israeli attitudes (govermental, military or public ones) are subjected to a more strict coverage. And do they actually pretend to be neutral when reporting about Israel? I don't think so...