Is Abbas brave enough to apologise to President Morsi?

The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas apologised two days ago to Netanyahu and the Israelis for his comments last week, which the Zionist lobby described as anti-Semitic.

Abbas issued an apology in English, condemning the Holocaust as the most heinous crime in history.

In his apology, Abu Mazen said: “If people were offended by my statement in front of the PNC, especially people of the Jewish faith, I apologise to them. I would like to assure everyone that it was not my intention to do so.”

At the same time, Abbas did not have the courage to apologise for his lies and his slander against President Morsi last week when he falsely claimed in his speech before the meeting of the Palestinian National Council, which was boycotted by a number of major Palestinian factions, that President Mohamed Morsi offered him a proposal of a Palestinian state with temporary borders by offering part of the Sinai Peninsula (a piece, in his words) to settle the Palestinians in. He claimed that this project was open to discussion between Hamas and Israel in an effort to expand Gaza, but said he refused to take even a centimetre of Egyptian land, thus angering President Morsi, who allegedly scolded him for refusing the offer.

He added in his claims that the Egyptian Defence Minister at the time, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, issued a decision that the Sinai territories area was an issue of national security.

Abbas knows, deep in his heart, and is certain that he is a liar and that President Morsi never offered any of the things he falsely claimed he offered. President Morsi’s position on Abbas’ lies is documented and we were and still are witnesses to this.

President Morsi, may God liberate him, expressed his position repeatedly in this regard, as he has rejected what Abbas accepts implicitly, but explicitly rejects, along with Al-Sisi and the other conspirators against the Palestinian cause. They are instead seeking to liquidate it.

Although President Morsi cannot respond to these claims today, thank God, his position has been documented in videos and sound bites. Therefore neither Abbas nor anyone else who conceded the rights of their people and the sanctities of their nation can refute this or slander one of the best men in our nation, President Morsi.

Read: Egypt’s $15 billion Sinai development expected by 2022, presidential aide says

In this regard, it is enough for me to throw President Morsi’s well-documented positions, viewed by millions on Al Jazeera weeks before the coup in the face of Abbas and those like him.

Journalist Khadija Benguenna conducted a long interview with President Morsi, aired by Al Jazeera in two parts. During the interview, she confronted President Morsi with a number of rumours that have been circulated by those lacking a conscience, including Abbas today!

Below is part of the interview that anyone can easily find on YouTube:

Khadija Benguenna: “Is there a plan to give part of the Sinai Peninsula to the Palestinians?”

President Morsi: “This is another ridiculous claim, like the claims of buying and selling the Suez Canal.

First of all, I want to stress something everyone already knows, the Palestinians love their country and the people of Gaza love Gaza. The Palestinians are eager to live on their own land.

Secondly, We Egyptians know our borders and our land; we have counted the grains of our sand and know them. Our country is our property.

As I said before, Egyptian land is prohibited for any non-Egyptians. There is no place for non-Egyptians on own Egyptian land in the manner that you are referring to.

I do not like for this kind of talk to be said to our Palestinian brothers because they did not say this nor have they done anything wrong in this regard. But I will say generally and to those who are trying to promote such rumours, they are funny jokes that have no value or weight.”

As for the other lie told by Abbas when he claimed that the Defence Minister at the time, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi issued a decision that Sinai’s lands are a matter of national security, the truth of the matter is historically President Morsi is the one who issued a law prohibiting non-Egyptians from owning land in Sinai. This was after we prepared and discussed the law in the Council of Ministers, headed by Dr Hisham Qandil.

Moreover, the man who allocated about $259 million for the development of Sinai and the construction of schools, hospitals, water and electricity plans, irrigation wells and dams was President Morsi, not his defence minister who staged a coup against him.

The person, who reclaimed hundreds of thousands of acres in Sinai and allocated half of the land’s ownership to Sinai residents while the other half was allocated to agricultural investment by means of national Egyptian companies, was also President Morsi, not Al-Sisi.

Why should we look far back in history when the reality we are experiencing today refutes Abbas’ claims?

Who met with US President Donald Trump last year and expressed his willingness to cooperate with him to accomplish the “deal of the century” between the Palestinians and Israelis despite the fact that some terms of the deal were leaked and included the concession of 500 kilometres of Sinai to the proposed Palestinian state? In exchange for this, Egypt would receive parts of the occupied Negev Desert in Palestine.

Read: Abbas’s speech was only the latest example of anti-Semitism by Israel’s supporters

Was it Al-Sisi or President Morsi, Mr Abbas?

And if you want to talk about Egypt’s national security, who is the one who sold Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia and turned the strait into an international waterway after Egypt had sole control over it in accordance with international law? This could have been used to suffocate Israel and prevent it from accessing the Red Sea.

Was it Al-Sisi or Morsi?

Who gave the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia thousands of kilometres in South Sinai for his Neom project, which Israel, along with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, will participate in?

Who colluded in favour of Trump’s decision to consider Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and asked his officers to instruct the media in Egypt to calm the public opinion and promote Ramallah as being like Jerusalem and there being no difference, and emphasise that all that matters is ending the suffering of the Palestinian people?

Was it President Morsi as well?

Abu Mazen, you already made similar false allegations over two years ago to journalists affiliated with the coup-led government in Egypt. At the time, we corrected you, but now you are repeating them in Ramallah to the members of the PNC. However, I know there are several PNC members who are fighters who do not believe your claims against President Morsi, who cannot respond to you now.

But I assure you that God will reveal your lies and your fabrications, and that history will not forgive you for conspiring against the man and your bias towards those who wronged him.

I ask Mr Abbas, “Who incited the Israelis to strike Gaza in 2012 and 2013?”

Who described the resistance’s rockets, fired in defence of the Palestinians under attack, as useless?

Who instigated the coup-led government in Egypt to tighten its siege imposed on the Palestinians in Gaza?

Who is the one withholding the salaries of employees in Gaza as if this money is coming out of his own pocket?

Who is withholding the tax owed to the people of Gaza?

Who is conspiring with his enemy against his own people, and pretending to resist, while in fact acting as an accomplice to the enemy, and even conspiring to liquidate the cause and accuse others falsely?

To Abbas, I say:

Be brave and apologise to your master Morsi, just as you apologised to Netanyahu.

In conclusion, I say to all the honourable people in the PLO, and to all the Fatah fighters who defended Palestine and Jerusalem, whose nationalistic and patriotic positions we value and cherish: Stop this man from his abuses and violations, as they will cause you the greatest harm.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Alresalah.ps on 7 April 2018

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.