Press Israel to make peace or watch Daesh grow — Palestinians

ROME — Daesh will assume the moral leadership of the Arab world if Israel does not stop crushing Palestinians' hopes of statehood, a senior PLO official warned on Friday.

Saeb Erakat, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, told a Rome conference on Mediterranean security that the extremism of Daesh could only be defeated long-term through a resolution of the Palestinian question and the establishment of democracy in Arab countries.

"You are not going to defeat Daesh with bullets, warplanes and so on."

Erakat said the anger that fuelled support for groups like Daesh was undermining people like him who had attempt to negotiate peace with Israel and had been treated instead to the expansion of Israeli settlements on the occupied West Bank.

"For 23 years I promised Palestinians we would have our freedom and dignity. What did I bring my people? Instead 200,000 settlers we now have 600,000 and an Israeli prime minister who prides himself on saying 'there will be no Palestinian state on my watch'.

"If we go down as Palestinian moderates, if we cannot deliver, mark my words this will be the scenario.

"At the moment ISIS [Daesh] are seen as a causeless bunch of criminal terrorists. Nobody is associating with them.

"If tomorrow they fill the gap of me and [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas and they start killing Israelis, who amongst one billion Arabs will be against it?"