Palestinian leaders appeal to the non-existent Arab street to support them

Felesteen reports that the “National and Islamic Forces” – a committee with Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad as members – have  called on the “Arab masses” to reject normalization with Israel.

The terror groups issued a statement, after a meeting held by their forces’ leadership in Ramallah on Monday

Their statement  said that Arab normalization “constitutes a betrayal of the Palestinian cause and the issues of the nation,” stressing “the importance of keeping the masses of our Arab nation standing by the central issue of the Palestinian issue and rejecting the official Arab normalization policy.” 

The group also rejected the “false accusations directed against the Palestinian people, their leadership, factions and symbols,” referring to recent statements by Saudi officials and others. 

The thing is, the Arab street doesn’t exist. As I showed, within two months of the Israel/UAE announcement, some 30% of Arabs changed their mind about normalizing with Israel. The rest are not nearly as interested in making noise as they were when they knew their leadership was on the same page.

For years, and even now, Palestinians have been assuming that the lip service paid to their cause by Arab leaders represented something tangible. But all it was good for was to get them anti-Israel votes in the UN and Arab League. Now even that is in jeopardy. 

So they are desperately appealing to the “Arab masses,” hoping that they will revolt or at least march for the Palestinian cause.It is now easier for them to get a demonstration in London than in Riyadh.