TEL AVIV – Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby urged Palestinians to engage in civil disobedience in order to put an end to the “Israeli occupation,” the Jerusalem Post reported.
“Israel is trying to break the will of the Palestinian people” as the Arab world is facing turmoil, Elaraby said at a meeting of the Yasser Arafat Foundation at the headquarters of the Arab League on Tuesday.
“We must think out of the box and consider the option of civil disobedience, used by Gandhi to put an end to the British colonialism in India,” he added.
The Arab League chief blamed “Jewish terror” for civilian deaths in conflicts with the Palestinians:
We must not forget that the indiscriminate killing of civilians the world is witnessing today started in the Middle East with the terror exerted by the Jewish clandestine organization which blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946, indiscriminately killing about 90 people.
Elaraby also stressed the importance of supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, arguing that it may end Israeli settlement activities.
His anti-Israel remarks come a day after he was accused of collaboration with Israel after declaring on Monday that Russia’s aerial campaign does not violate international law since it is based on a request from the Syrian government.
According to the Post, his statement drew criticism from political analysts, with one accusing Elaraby of transforming the Arab League into the “Israeli League.”
Anwar Malik, a well-known analyst from Lebanon who is against Hezbollah, said that Elaraby’s remarks do not surprise him and “one day [Elaraby will] blame the Syrian people for violating international law by running away from Russian bombing.”
The U.S., along with other Western powers hoping to put an end to the civil war in Syria, has accused Russia of directing its bombs at rebel groups fighting the Syrian government and not at Islamic State terrorists.
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