PA Minister: Peace Deal Is Like Mecca Truce Broken by Muhammad

Palestinian Authority (PA) Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash, in a sermon attended by PA President Mahmoud Abbas on the day that renewed peace negotiations with Israel were announced, compared PA peace agreements to a 10-year truce that was broken by the Prophet Muhammad after only two years.

The PA minister, according to a July 19 Palestinian Authority TV broadcast cited by Palestinian Media Watch, compared the Palestinian leadership’s approach to peace agreements such as the 1993 Oslo Accords to the “Treaty of Hudaybiyyah” between Muhammad and the Quraish Tribe of Mecca. Just like the Palestinian leadership encountered “much criticism and much opposition by some [Palestinians]” over the Oslo Accords, Muhammad was initially met with “anger and fury” from his followers for the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, Al-Habbash said. Questioned at the time why he didn’t decide to conquer Mecca, Muhammad assured his followers the 10-year truce would turn out to be a “victory.”

“In less than two years, the Prophet returned and, based on this treaty, he conquered Mecca,” Al-Habbash said. “This is the example, this is the model [for contemporary agreements with Israel].”

Similarly, the Oslo Accords brought Palestinians “to where we are today,” Al-Habbash said.

“We have a [Palestinian] Authority and the world recognizes the [Palestinian] state,” he said.

In order to get the PA to agree to renewed peace negotiations with Israel, announced July 19 by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Israel agreed to release 85 Palestinian terrorists who were imprisoned before the Oslo Accords.