Fatah official lash out at Netanyahu

Fatah official Muhammad Shtayyeh on Friday evening lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at a holiday dinner organized by Fatah. “If you don’t want to differentiate between Abu Ghneim (Israeli settlement Har Homa in northern Bethlehem) and Tel Aviv, we will not differentiate between Ramallah and Jaffa,” he said, directing his words to Netanyahu. “The year 2012 will be a year of political vacuum as the US is busy with elections, Europe is busy with the euro crisis, the Arabs are busy with the Arab Spring, and Netanyahu and his government insist on creating facts on the ground believing that we will agree on negotiations for the sake of negotiations. That will not happen." The Fatah official added: "They believe the distance between Abu Ghneim and Cremisan Monastery is available to be devoured, but on behalf of the people of Beit Sahour, Beit Jala, Bethlehem and all the villages and refugee camps in Bethlehem district, we say that Palestinian lands are not devourable." The Christmas dinner was held at Nissan hall in Bethlehem and was attended by At-Tayyib Abdul-Rahim, the secretary-general of the president along with party officials Mahmoud al-Aloul, Jamal Muheisin, Abbas Zaki, Tawfiq Tirawi, Majid Faraj and Amin Maqboul. Several Christian members of clergy were also present as well as the governors of Bethlehem and Hebron.