An Arab military liaison officer in the Palestinian Authority was arrested Saturday morning after criticizing PA leader Mahmoud Abbas on his personal Facebook page. Osama Mansour posted a comment slamming the PA leader for attending the funeral of Israel’s ninth President, Shimon Peres z’l, in Jerusalem on Friday.
In his outraged post, Mansour called Peres the “founder of the settlements” who caused the “continuation of Palestinian suffering” and said his was a funeral that Abbas should not have attended.
“In any case, whether he was or was not a terrorist, or was or was not responsible for the idea of ‘breaking the bones’ of the first intifada, or had or didn’t have a role in the Jenin refugee camp massacre of the Yasmin neighborhood massacre in Nablus, or whether he was or was not connected to the Qana massacre… Who is he that you are going to participate in his funeral while most of your people, who you represent, reject him?
“If you decide to participate in the funeral of the killer of our people on your own, you will have made a mistake. If you have decided based on the advice of others, then they have misled you. [There should be] no personal or friendly connection with the Occupier as long as its operations against our people continue.”
The official WAFA news agency quoted Fayez Abbas, an Arab authority in Israeli affairs, who said the PA leader’s attendance at the funeral “did a great service” for the entity.
A senior official with the Palestinian Authority told Israel Radio on Saturday that Abbas himself had no regrets, and that he believed he had sent a clear message he is a “partner for peace.”
Attending the funeral were leaders from three of the four members of the Quartet of world peacekeepers: the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations, all of whom have maintained a determined interest in restarting negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, leader of fourth member of the Quartet, called Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to convey his condolences.