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U.S. State Department Slammed For Report On Palestinian Violence        

The U.S. State Department is under fire from pro-Israel groups over an annual report on terrorism that listed as “continued drivers of [Palestinian] violence…[a] lack of hope in achieving Palestinian statehood, Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank, settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, the perception that the Israeli government was changing the status quo on the Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount, and IDF tactics that the Palestinians considered overly aggressive.” Slammed for being one-sided and for using the language of Israel’s critics while ignoring Israel’s own claims, the report also claimed that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had taken significant steps to clamp down on incitement, which the Israeli government has repeatedly blamed for instigating Palestinian attacks. A number of nations—including the U.S. and U.K.—have been vocal in demanding an end to stipends the PA pays to families of those killed while attacking Israelis. One organization purporting to represent a number of American Jewish groups sent a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson expressing “deep concern” about the report, and calling for an amended version “that properly puts the responsibility for terrorism…where it belongs on President Abbas and the PA.” A State Department spokeswoman has since clarified that “there is no justification for any acts of terrorism.” At least one Jewish group has called for Tillerson’s resignation for telling Congress that PA President Abbas said the paying of stipends to terrorists would end when he said the opposite.