And what is he planning to do about it, beyond paying lip service? Nothing, as usual?
Well, what can a PA president possibly do, after all?
How about suspending the so-called negotiations, which are nothing more than a fig leaf covering up Israel's ongoing colonization of the West Bank, particularly in and around Jerusalem, and acts of genocide in Gaza?
How about urging the EU to suspend their association agreement with Israel?
How about waking up the long-dormant Palestinian ambassadors in most countries to launch campaigns, with solidarity groups, against Israel's occupation and apartheid?
If he cannot do any of the above, how about resigning in peace?
Omar BarghoutiAbbas criticizes Israel on olive harvest
By KARIN LAUB
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The Palestinian president accused Israel of not protecting Palestinian farmers against settler attacks during the ongoing olive harvest, but Israel's defense minister said Monday his troops are doing the best they can.
President Mahmoud Abbas was quoted as saying that the situation has become "unbearable." He said that a continued failure by Israel to crack down on militant settlers is a show of bad faith at a time when the two sides are trying to reach a peace deal.
"All lines have been crossed in the olive groves this season," Abbas said in comments published in the Palestinian daily Al Ayyam.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the army is making a major effort to protect the olive pickers and denounced those attacking farmers as "hooligans," but dismissed Abbas' accusation of bad faith.
"We are talking about hundreds of locations where there is an olive harvest and it is impossible to be at all the places at all the same times," Barak told Army Radio.
The West Bank has about 10 million olive trees, and the harvest, involving thousands of Palestinians, began more than a week ago. This year's harvest is expected to contribute some $100 million to the Palestinian economy and benefit some 100,000 families.
In recent years, more and more groves have become harder to reach, either because they lie beyond Israel's lengthening separation barrier or are close to Jewish settlements and their multiplying satellite camps.
Since the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in 2000, settlers have repeatedly attacked farmers and damaged crops. In recent days, there have been several reports of attacks on olive pickers or their property.
The Israeli army claimed that in some cases, olive farmers and the Israeli and foreign volunteers escorting them have engaged in "deliberate provocation" by going to groves in areas of tension.
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