Two Arabs from areas of Jerusalem claimed by the Palestinian Authority were preparing to kill Jews during the High Holiday season by blowing up Jerusalem’s luxurious Mamilla Mall where they worked, authorities revealed Sunday after a gag order was lifted.

The two terrorists, in their 20s, were affiliated with a Hamas cell in Ramallah, headquarters of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The head of the terrorist cell was Ramallah resident Hamdi Romana, who maintained an explosives lab  in his home. The cell also planned to manufacture and fire missiles from Ramallah and kidnap Israeli soldiers.

If you listen to the Obama administration, Abbas his fulfilling his commitment to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian Authority, and if you read this, you know that it is Israel that arrests most heavy duty terrorists.

The two Arabs expressed their anger for the humiliation of having to work for Jews by plotting to plant explosives at the shopping complex, located across the street from the Old City.

The two Arabs are from the neighborhood of Shuafat, located next to the Haredi Ramat Shlomo area, and Ras al-Amud, where the Jews live in the neighborhood of Maaleh Zeitim. Both Jewish areas are considered “settlements” by the Obama administration.

According to the “Peace Process” theory, Israel is blocking economic growth in the Palestinian Authority because of checkpoints and searches.

That theory goes down the drain in the mall bomb plot because there are no checkpoints in Ras al-Amud or Shuafat. Both areas are under the administration of the Municipality of Jerusalem.

All residents are able to take out Israeli citizenship and carry Israeli identity cards.

One of dozens of factors that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Council of Sages do not take into account is that if the Palestinian Authority were to include area of Jerusalem former occupied by Jordan, it is doubtful that the Arabs would want to give up their benefits they enjoy from Israel.

Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid has barred five party lawmakers from meeting in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas , who had invited them to a toast in honor of Rosh HaShanah.

The five lawmakers withdrew their acceptance of the invitation, according to the newspaper.

Lapid ordered the withdrawal because it could prejudice the work of the Israeli and Palestinian Authority negotiating teams, which have met three times in the last three weeks for renewed peace talks, according to reports.

Abbas’ invitation came after a goodwill meeting held last month at the Knesset attended by Israeli lawmakers and PA representatives chosen by Abbas.

The Palestinian Authority cancelled the ‘peace’ talks that were to take place on Monday, August 26.  The PA cancelled Monday’s scheduled talks because three Arab Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces who had been ambushed in an Arab town.

The Arab Palestinian version of events is that the Israeli Defense Forces shot and killed three young Arab Palestinians.  That is also the story being told by most major media outlets.

The reality is that IDF troops entered the Arab Palestinian town of Qalandriya before dawn Monday morning, in search of a terror suspect.  Somehow their cover was blown and when residents of the town learned that Israeli soldiers were in their midst, it became open season on the IDF soldiers.

According to a Border Police spokesperson, upon hearing of the IDF presence “1,500 Palestinians poured into the streets and attacked the officers with firebombs and rocks.”

As reported earlier by The Jewish Press, police testimony regarding the incident revealed that the confrontation between the villagers and the IDF posed a “real and present danger” to the lives of the troops.  “An initial investigation revealed that the officers used riot dispersal means, including the Roger rifle, which fires ammunition at lower and thus less dangerous speeds.”

“The meeting that was to take place in Jericho … today was cancelled because of the Israeli crime committed in Qalandia today,” an Arab Palestinian official told AFP.

Rovin Fayez Zaed, 35, and Younis Jahjouh, 23, were pronounced dead at a Ramallah hospital. Jihad Aslan, 17, died from his wounds shortly thereafter, and approximately a dozen were wounded.

The Jewish Press reported that Jahjouh was released from prison as part of the 2011 Shalit deal.

The IDF’s Spokesperson’s Unit said that, “during an overnight operation for the arrest of a suspect in Qalandiya, a riot involving hundreds of Palestinians who attacked the security forces erupted. Early details suggest that an IDF force supporting the troops was trying to rescue them and that fire was opened at the assailants when the situation became life threatening.”

The IDF further noted that the suspect, a terrorist, was arrested and turned over for questioning with security forces. “The circumstances behind the incident will be investigated.”

PLO official Hanan Ashrawi strongly denounced Israel’s incursion into the camp, the Arab Palestinian media outlet Ma’an reported.

“Israel’s use of excessive and indiscriminate violence and live ammunition in densely populated civilian areas represents a blatant violation of international and humanitarian law.”

A video of the response by villagers upon learning of the presence of Israelis in Qalandriya reveals what Ms. Ashrawi would have the world believe was a peaceful village of Arabs who were attacked by Israeli soldiers, with no provocation.

Despite unequivocal statements from Arab leadership, the U.S. State Department denied that the talks were cancelled.  Spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters, “I can assure you that no meeting has been cancelled.”

Originally published at the Gatestone Institute.

At the request of the Palestinian Authority leadership, the first round of peace talks with Israel, which was launched in Jerusalem on August 14, was held away from the media spotlight.

The Palestinian Authority leadership requested that no journalist or photographer be permitted to cover the meeting between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.

Even the location of the peace talks was kept a secret, again at the request of the Palestinian Authority leadership.

The Palestinian Authority’s request for secrecy in the peace talks does not stem from its desire to secure the success of the negotiations.

It is not as if the Palestinian Authority is saying: We care so much about the peace talks that we prefer to avoid media coverage in order to make sure that the peace process succeeds.

The main reason the Palestinian Authority does not want the media to cover the peace talks is related to its fear of the reactions of Palestinians and the Arab world.

Mahmoud Abbas is already facing widespread opposition among Palestinians to his controversial decision — which was taken under heavy pressure from US Secretary of State John Kerry — to return to the negotiating table with Israel.

When the heads of the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams, Tzipi Livni and Saeb Erekat, met in Washington earlier this month to announce the launching of the peace talks, many Palestinians and Arabs seized the opportunity to ridicule Erekat and accuse the Palestinian Authority leadership of treason.

A photo of Erekat and Livni standing together in Washington has since been exploited by Facebook and Twitter activists to hurl insults and profanity at the chief Palestinian negotiator.

Palestinian sources in Ramallah said that Erekat felt so offended by the insults and obscene language directed against him that he decided that there was no need for “photo op” with Livni or any other Israeli.

Both Abbas and Erekat are fully aware of the growing opposition among Palestinians and Arabs to the resumption of the peace talks with Israel under the terms of the US Administration.

That is why the two men do not want to be seen sitting in a room with any Israeli representative. They know that any photo of Erekat and Livni shaking hands or sitting together would provide their enemies with additional ammunition.

Those who think that the opposition to the peace talks is coming only from Hamas and other radical groups are either ignorant or turning a blind eye to the reality.

When Abbas agreed to resume the peace talks with Israel, he went against the recommendation of the PLO leadership, whose members rejected Kerry’s attempts to force the Palestinian Authority president to abandon two of his pre-conditions — namely, that Israel accept the pre-1967 lines as the basis for negotiations and freeze all construction in settlements and east Jerusalem neighborhoods.

Last week, the PLO officials once again reminded Abbas of their opposition to the peace talks.

During an August 15 meeting in Ramallah, several PLO leaders told Abbas that they remained opposed “in principle” to the idea of resuming peace talks with Israel under the current circumstances.

The only Palestinian official who has come out in public to voice support for Abbas’s move is the powerless Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah.

Abbas and Erekat know that Hamdallah’s public endorsement of the peace talks does not carry any weight. After all, Hamdallah is an unelected public servant with no grassroots support or political base.

To further complicate matters for Abbas and Erekat, several Palestinian factions are now in the process of forming a “national alliance” the main goal of which is to thwart any deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. This rejectionist front will consist of various PLO and other factions and organizations and could create many problems for the Palestinian Authority.

But there is another reason why the Palestinian Authority leadership does not want media coverage of the peace talks. For many years, the Palestinian Authority has been supporting boycott campaigns against Israel, as well as organizations combating “normalization” with Israelis.

If Palestinian children are condemned for playing football with Israelis, why should it be acceptable for Erekat to be talking with Livni?

Palestinian Authority leaders can only blame themselves for the growing opposition to the peace talks with Israel. Palestinian leaders have simply not prepared their people for peace. These leaders have, instead, delegitimized Israel to a point where it has become a “crime” for any Palestinian to be photographed talking to, or negotiating with, any Israeli.

The Palestinian Football Association on Thursday demanded that the International federation of Football (FIFA) expel Israel, because it had refused to allow several Arab youth team players into the Palestinian Authority.

“We ask for a red card, because the yellow card has been raised now for a long time,” PFA chief Jibril Rajub told reporters in Ramallah.

In a May interview with Rajub on Lebanese TV, the host referred to “the negotiations game” with Israel, and Rajoub expressed the view that negotiations are held because the Palestinians lack military strength: “I swear that if we had a nuke, we’d have used it this very morning,” he promised.

An enterprising terrorist since the 1970s, Rajoub told AFP: “We are clinging to the red card to take away the Israeli occupation’s legitimacy and we will not accept any compromise.”

Altogether, Israel refused entry to three managers of the Jordanian football union, two UAE representatives and 13 players and managers from Iraq, according to Rajoub.

Considering the fact that Israeli citizens are officially barred from all the Arab countries, that’s a fairly reasonable number, which was based on an evaluation by the Shabac internal security service.

Israeli Soccer Association chairman Avi Luzon said this is a cheap attempt on Rajoub’s part to gain political capital, and hurt Israel in the process. Luzon said he had already responded to all of Rajoub’s complaints back in May, explaining to FIFA the security concerns behind the decision to block the entry of about 15 participants.

The vast majority of players and coaches were approved for passage into the PA from Jordan via the Allenby Bridge crossing.

The entire affair was discussed satisfactorily last month in a meeting between Luzon, FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In April, 2012, the goalie of the Palestinian Olympic soccer team, Omar Abu Rois, who was also a member of Hamas, participated in an attack using AK-47 assault rifles on Israeli soldiers. The goalie and 12 others used a red Crescent ambulance in the attack.

The attack was planned and carried out under the guidance of the PA security service in Ramallah – an outfit Rajoub ran until 2002.

Martin Indyk, President Barack Obama’s latest panacea to save the Middle East from American failure, met with Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas Sunday in Ramallah on new developments in the “peace process.”

Indyk reiterated American commitments to support direct talks with Israel over a period of nine months, starting with mid-July.

Before the meeting, Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel assuredly irked Abbas and Indyk by announcing plans for more than 1,000 more residential housing units in Judea and Samaria and areas of Jerusalem that were occupied by Jordan from 1948 until the Six-Day War in 1967.

Previously, Abbas irked Israel by reiterating, in no uncertain terms, that no Jew would remain in a future PA country, prompting  Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to complained to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Saturday night over Abbas’s incitement against Israel despite the resumed direct talks.

The Palestinian Authority has proved its death wish again by it fierce reaction to IDF approval of a grandiose plan, years away for reality, that would provide trains service to Arab cities in Judea and Samaria and propel economic growth but with the “price tag” of also being beneficial to Jews.

“This [plan] shows not only Israel’s short-term illegal activities in terms of settlement expansion, but its long term planning and execution of colonial projects that aim at nothing less than ending the two-state solution,” PA spokesman Husam Zomlot said.

If there is one area in which  chairman Mahmoud Abbas excels it is cutting off his own nose to spite his face, or more accurately the face of nearly more than 1.5 million Arabs living in Judea and Samaria.

Several years ago, Israel considered building its “Kvish 6” (Highway 6) north-south superhighway toll road east of the current route so that it would bring Arabs and Jews in Judea and Samaria closer to metropolitan Tel Aviv. It also would have cemented an Israeli presence in the region.

The highway, which now extends a short distance from Haifa all the way to the suburbs of Be’er  Sheva, has been a boon to industry and housing, enabling Israelis to cut driving times in half. New industry has brought thousands of jobs to areas that were formerly undeveloped.

Ramallah, Jenin, Shechem, and Hevron could have enjoyed the benefits, but the Israeli government was scared that the Palestinian Authority might eventually rake in all the cards and create a Judenrein country in Judea and Samaria. Investors, many of whom were more interested in capitalism than Zionism, encouraged the current route that stays out of Judea and Samaria.

When the city of Jerusalem built its light rail system to include northern Jerusalem, which the Palestinian Authority claims will be part of its state one day, chairman Mahmoud Abbas went bonkers because it challenged PA soverisgnty over the capital.

The light rail system allows Arabs, as well as Jews, to ride into the city and work and shop without the miserable traffic jams in the capital, where homes and offices crowds over two lane roads that leave little room for widening.

Now comes the Transportation Ministry’s railroad plan, announced earlier this year and given the nod by the military.

It would include more approximately 300 miles of track along 11 rail lines, running from Hevron, approximately 15 miles south of Jerusalem, linking the Jordan Valley to the east and running northward to include Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jenin and Shechem.

Just think of the boon for Arab workers and industries, which would be able to receive raw materials near their factories and ship finished product by rail to the ports of Haifa and Ashdod.

The long-term for the railway system is for it to run from Ramallah to the Allenby Bridge, on the border with Jordan, and to connect rail lines to Gaza and Arab countries.

Just think how that could unify Ramallah and Gaza by bringing them together.

But the Palestinian Authority  does not think like that.

They say, “Just think of what those trains would do for the Jews. It would reach the illegal colonial settlement of Maaleh Adumim [a city of approximately 40,000 east of Jerusalem]. It would benefit those settlers in Gush Edition, some of whom are sitting on property that was occupied  before the reestablishment of Israel by  – Jews. Oh well, let’s forget about that little fact.

“Anything that helps a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria is immoral. It defeats the two-state solution.” That refers to the two state, living side by side in peace and harmony, where Arabs lives in Israel and do not let Jews live in Judea and Samaria.

The Palestinian Authority has not learned its lesson from being left out of Highway 6. Earlier this week, Israel said that a proposed Highway 9 will link Hadera, located southwest of Haifa and northeast of Tel Aviv, with communities to the east.

The official WAFA news agency stated, “The establishment of ‘Road 9’ will destroy the two-state solution and prevent the establishment of a viable and contiguous Palestinian state. The planned ‘Road 9’ will link the coastal Israeli city of Hadera with illegal settlements in Jenin and the Jordan Valley.”

Israel’s Fox clothing store chain plans to open a branch in Ramallah, the heart of the Palestinian Authority, may put a feather in the cap of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s economic hopes for the PA but also may unwittingly kill Kerry’s “peace process” efforts.

It also might bring Arabs and Jews closer to peace.

As reported on Monday, Palestinian Authority activists are outraged over the idea of Fox moving into Ramallah because it has committed the ultimate sin of operating stores in Jewish areas in Judea and Samaria.

Fox spokesperson Merav Stav said that the Ramallah store will be run by a PA franchise owner, but that does not calm those who want a boycott of any Israeli firm that deals with Jews in Judea and Samaria.

“The public rejects the opening of the Zionist clothing chain in Ramallah,” wrote one activist on an Internet site.

The news of Fox’s expansion into Ramallah has reached around the world, from Europe to China as well as the United States.

Fox runs 135 stores in Israel and another 245 outside the country, and CEO Harel Wizel plans another 60 branches in two years.

Large billboards already are posted in Ramallah to advertise the new store to be opened later this year.

Fox’s plans are an untended slap in the face of the European Union, which last week declared a boycott of any firm that has operations in Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights and areas of Jerusalem that were occupied by Jordan before 1967.

Now we will see if the EU is prepared to put an “x” on Fox’s stores in Europe.

The world already has learned that boycotting all of Israel does not work, unless the idealists want to give up their computers with made-in-Israel Intel chips, generic drugs and the Copaxone drug against Muscular Sclerosis made by Teva Pharmaceuticals, Waze, and all sorts of high-tech gadgets.

But there is a bigger problem for Arabs in the Palestinian Authority who promote the boycott of “anyone who deals with “settlers,” except, perhaps, terrorists who do their best to end the need for a boycott by trying to put an end to Jews living there.

There are businesses besides Fox that serve Arabs in the Palestinian Authority, even if not in Arab-dominated cities.

Rami Levi’s supermarkets chains employ hundreds of Arabs and serves thousands of them in his stores in Judea and Samaria as well as in areas of Jerusalem claimed by chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

And Israel’s Burger Ranch franchise owner Eli Orgad already has announced he will open a branch in Ariel, in central Samaria, next year, where nearby Arabs undoubtedly will be shopping.

The mall is being developed by none other than Rami Levy.

Jobs and comfortable shipping are not worth the misery of having to enjoy a decent life that also helps the profits of Israelis “supporting the occupation.” In the blind eyes of hard-core activists.

It “inconceivable that while the Europeans have decided to boycott settler products, Palestinians are helping an Israeli company do business in Ramallah,” Palestinian Authority activist Zeid al-Shuaibi told the Jerusalem Post this week.

Without the Jews, either by war or through Kerry’s peace process, the PA would be left without the economic engine that has kept the Palestinian Authority alive.

If the boycotters want to be honest, they should be avoiding Osem cookies, Elite chocolates and coffee, Tnuva milk products and Strauss ice cream, because all of those products are sold in stores operated by those pesky “settlers.”

With Fox’s entry into Ramallah, PA activists, the International Solidarity Movement’s paid protesters living in Judea and Samaria, and European Union officials are welcome to stand fast and back the boycott, do without Fox clothes and stick to a diet of Arab-made pita.

Fox, Rami Levi and Orgad are making mincemeat out of the idea of the PA ideology of an Arab apartheid state.

When Kerry eventually realizes that the Arab leaders are not interested in any peace process, the Palestinian Authority likely will return to where it was before the days of the Intifada in the late 1980s, when Jews shopped freely in Gaza and hired Arabs, when Jews toured and shopped in Arab villages in Judea and Samaria, and when peace never was closer.