Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee, held a series of meetings with top officials and lawmakers in Washington DC last week, according to a PLO press release on Saturday.
The PLO is a terrorist organization that had international recognition as such removed in the 1994 Oslo Accords, although it never renounced terrorism. The group maintains its pro-terror stance, with one PLO official last October calling the murder of Jews a “national duty.”
During her visit to Washington, Ashrawi first met with Anne Patterson, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Near East Affairs, Frank Lowenstein, Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations, Chris Henzel, Director of Israel-Palestinian Affairs, and Andrew Lederman, Political Officer of Israel-Palestinian Affairs, according to Palestine News Network.
In the meeting Ashrawi called for American support for a French initiative to force concessions on Israel or else recognize “Palestine” – a plan that France’s new foreign minister has toned down. She also called for America to press Israel to stop its legal naval blockade on Gaza that is meant to prevent the influx of weapons.
Ashrawi then met with Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and accused Israeli of trying to “destroy” the two state solution dividing the Jewish state, through “settler violence and terrorism, extrajudicial killings…and settler attacks against Christian and Muslim holy sites.”
The comments are ironic given the wave of Arab terror that has been sweeping Israel since last September fueled by the documented incitement of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority (PA). She also demanded that Merkley pressure Republicans to release $159 million being withheld from the PA for its incitement to terror.
Obama’s assistant
In the last meeting of her visit, Ashrawi met with Rob Malley, Special Assistant to President Barack Obama and White House Coordinator for MENA, and Steven Galpern, National Security Council Director of Israeli-Palestinian Affairs.
In the past, Malley had to end his role as an adviser for the Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign after it came out that he held talks with Hamas, after it came to power in Gaza in 2006. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the US.
In the meeting with Malley and Galpern, Ashrawi asked for the US to support future Palestinian moves, and for the United Nations (UN) to play a more significant role in “ending the occupation.”
Ashrawi’s comments on the UN are particularly meaningful given a Wall Street Journal report last week, which cited senior US officials revealing US President Barack Obama intends to use the UN to divide Jerusalem. He reportedly intends to reverse American policy of vetoing anti-Israel resolutions at the UN Security Council and give a free hand to pressuring Israel before his term ends.
Ashrawi in the meeting also accused Israel of incitement, saying, “Israeli incitement is a constant barrage of hateful language that dehumanizes the victim, and it frequently comes from Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.”
Ironically PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas refused visiting US Vice President Joe Biden’s demand last week to condemn the terror attacks, even as his Fatah faction praised the murderer of US tourist Taylor Force.
