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Abbas and Fatah official accuse Israel of inciting against the Palestinian leadership and attempting to assassinate Abbas, “as they poisoned” Arafat

Headline: "The Israeli serial incitement against the [PA] president – a scenario that repeats itself"
     "The Israeli right-wing government is continuing its systematic attack and incitement against the legal leadership of our Palestinian people, led by [PA] President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas.
In the latest chapter in the series of Israeli incitement, the occupation's so-called [Israeli] ‘Minister of Public Security’ Gilad Erdan – who is close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – called to prevent President Abbas from returning to the homeland (see note below –Ed.). He demanded that his government 'examine this option.'
Simultaneously with the incitement campaign that the Israeli government is waging, terrorist settlers are distributing posters along the access routes to settlements in the West Bank that call to assassinate President Abbas (see note below –Ed.)…
In his response to the Israeli threats and to the settlers’ incitement to murder him, the president recently told members of the press in Cairo: ‘They can kill me in my home with bullets or with a missile at any given moment. They can also kill me with poison, as they poisoned the late [PLO Chairman and PA] President Yasser Arafat (sic., scientific teams have debunked this conspiracy; see note below) and killed [Palestine Liberation] Organization leaders in the past – but I will not surrender. Life is in Allah's hands, and even if they kill me, it will not solve their problems.'
President [Abbas’] advisor on Foreign Affairs [and International Relations] Nabil Shaath said: 'The Israeli incitement against President Abbas that is increasing these days is very similar to what happened to Martyr (Shahid) President Yasser Arafat, as the two leaders acted in the same way facing the pressures and refused to renounce our people’s legitimate rights.' He added: 'We are all potential Martyrs; we will continue to stand firm and will not surrender in order to save ourselves.'
Shaath noted that President Abbas is repeatedly saying in his meetings abroad that 'he will not betray his cause and will not renounce Jerusalem and the refugees' right [of return].'…
Shaath said: 'President Abbas is a man of peace, a just and comprehensive peace that will lead to the establishment of the independent Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem, will lead to the end of the occupation, and will guarantee the refugees’ right of return. He will continue to adhere to his positions despite all the threats.'"
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On Jan. 13, 2019, Israeli Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan suggested barring PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas from returning to the West Bank the next time he travels abroad. Erdan said that Abbas is “one of the main instigators of violence on the southern border," because of the measures he is taking to try and break Hamas' control of the Gaza Strip.

Campaign calling to assassinate PA Chairman Abbas - The Derech Haim Movement, led by right-wing Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, began a campaign calling for the assassination of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in December 2018. Their posters, which have been put up in the West Bank, show Abbas' face as if seen through a rifle sight. On the poster is written in red, with blood dripping from it: "A call to the government: Eliminate those who fund murder!" Under this is written: "The Palestinian Authority and its leader pay 12,000 Israeli shekels a month to murderers of Jews. The time has come to say: One who funds murder = murderer." Under this text are the pictures of the five Fogel family terror victims who were murdered in their home in 2011, and whose imprisoned murderers are receiving salaries from the PA. At the bottom is Derech Haim’s logo.

Yasser Arafat – Founder of the PLO and Fatah, former chairman of the PA. During the 1960s, 70s and 80s Arafat was behind numerous terror attacks against Israelis. Although he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 together with then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and then Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East" after signing the Oslo Accords peace agreement, Arafat launched a 5-year terror campaign - the second Intifada (2000-2005) – in which more than 1,000 Israelis were murdered. Arafat died of an illness in 2004. However, following his death, the PA created the libel that Israel murdered Arafat, and it has been spreading it since. In 2012, samples were taken from Arafat’s remains and tested for poisoning by Swiss, Russian, and French teams of scientists. The Swiss team concluded that the tests were "coherent with a hypothesis of poisoning" - but a member of the team also stated that "our study did not permit us to demonstrate categorically the hypothesis of poisoning by polonium." The Russian scientists concluded that "there was insufficient evidence to support the theory that Yasser Arafat died in 2004 by polonium poisoning." [Reuters, Nov. 8, 2013] In March 2015, three French judges ruled that "it has not been demonstrated that Mr. Yasser Arafat was murdered by polonium-210 poisoning." The French prosecutor stated that there was "not sufficient evidence of an intervention by a third party who could have attempted to take his life." [France 24, Sept. 2, 2015] The French prosecutor also explained that the polonium and lead found in Arafat’s grave were “of an environmental nature.” [Jerusalem Post, March 17, 2015].
Despite these results, the PA continues to blame Israel for Arafat’s death without any proof or backing for this claim.

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