William Hague - deluded or worse?

In today's House of Commons address, William Hague made a rather strange assertion, he said:

'Nevertheless, President Abbas has decided to press ahead—a decision we must respect. No one should be in any doubt that he is a courageous man of peace. Our central objective remains that of ensuring a rapid return to credible negotiations in order to secure a two-state solution. This is the guiding principle that will determine the way in which we will vote on any resolution at any time.'

President Abbas a 'courageous man of peace', ''secure a two-state solution'. Here's his Head of Foreign Relations, Nabil Shaath, from July 2011

"a formula that is unacceptable to us.. two states for two peoples... We will be a state for one people...The story of "two states for two peoples" means that there will be a Jewish people over there and a Palestinian people here. We will never accept this – not as part of the French initiative and not as part of the American initiative. We will not sacrifice the 1.5 million Palestinians with Israeli citizenship who live within the 1948 borders, and we will never agree to a clause preventing the Palestinian refugees from returning to their country..."

That's just his Head of Foreign Relations, William Hague said that Mahmoud Abbas was a courageous man of peace, do I hear anyone making that claim? Here's Mahmoud Abbas, from October 23, 2011:

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I will never recognize the Jewishness of the state, or a "Jewish state."

Courageous? Man of peace? Do remember that for many years the PLO promoted a "stages plan" that would first create a Palestinian state on the 1949 - 1967 armistice lines, and then work from that position to destroy Israel. Indeed senior Fatah official Abbas Zaki recently stated that this remains the goal for Fatah as well, but that "you can't say it to the world. You can say it to yourself."... Also remember Mahmoud Abbas's statement that:

"I will never allow a single Israeli to live among us on Palestinian land,"

Also remember what I blogged back in 2010: Israel National News has some recent quotes from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that shows he's just as opposed to the continued existence of Israel as Hamas:

'Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told Arab leaders that the PA is ready to wage war on Israel if the rest of the Arab world does, according to the PA daily Al-Hayat al-Jadida as translated by Palestinian Media Watch. “If you want war, and if all of you will fight Israel, we are in favor. But the Palestinians will not fight alone because they don't have the ability to do it,” Abbas quoted himself as having said at the March Arab League Summit in Libya. ... Abbas quoted his own statements to the Arab League while in a meeting with the PA's ambassador to Jordan. The statements were used in explanation of his opposition to the approach taken by Hamas. Hamas pushes for “resistance” - a buzz word used by Arabs to refer to terrorism – and refusal to negotiate with Israel. "What we hear from everyone is that the basis is negotiations. At a time that the entire world agrees about this... We are unable to confront Israel militarily,” Abbas told the PA envoy. Abbas, who is serving as head of the PA after unilaterally extending his term in office, has made several statements in recent years that have raised concerns as to his true intentions. In 2008, as Israel and the PA engaged in peace talks, Abbas told a Jordanian paper that he opposed terrorism “at present” but that “things may change.” In March 2010, the PA held a ceremony naming a main square in Ramallah for a terrorist who led a cell that murdered 37 Israelis. In June, a broadcast on official PA television referred to Jews as “our enemies” and to the entire state of Israel as “Palestine.” Earlier this week, Abbas eulogized terrorist Abu Daoud, the mastermind of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, calling him “one of the leading figures in Fatah.”Israel has officially referred to Abbas a "moderate" leader, as opposed to the leadership of Hamas, whose charter calls clearly for destroying Israel. (IsraelNationalNews.com)'

The Palestinian Authority a 'partner for peace'? Mahmoud Abbas a 'corageous man of peace'? Of course Mahmoud Abbas follows another man of peace as leader of Fatah, Yasser Arafat. Here's Yasser in his own words from 1980:

"Peace for us means the destruction of Israel. We are preparing for an all-out war, a war which will last for generations." "Peace for us means the destruction of Israel." "We plan to eliminate the state of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian state. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion. . . . We Palestinians will take over everything, including all of Jerusalem." "The victory march will continue until the Palestinian flag flies in Jerusalem and in all of Palestine."

Fairly clear? Here's the same Yasser Arafat on the same day that he signed the Declaration of Principles on the White House lawn in 1993, explaining his actions on Jordan TV:

"Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel."

Pretty clear? The west listens to and believes what Mahmoud Abbas says about wanting a two state solution and a return to 1967 borders because that fits in with their world view of an evil Jewish state stealing land from poor Palestinians. The truth is some way from this narrative but the western media, especially the BBC, and the British Foreign Office just don't care; facts will not be allowed to intrude into their decided narrative.