Israel Matzav

Twitter Fayad

'Palestinian' Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is on Twitter. Well, maybe. 'Palestinian' comedian Ray Hanania does a pretty good job of deconstructing Fayyad, the Twitter account.

I connected with Fayyad after he started to "follow" me. But how do I know any of the Palestinians are who they claim to be?

"Twitter Fayyad" writes fascinating posts like this one: "I think Rafik al-Husseini should take a page from Tiger Woods and do a press conference admitting his actions and taking responsibility."

Or this exchange with "Twitter Dahlan" over who was responsible for the Mabhouh murder: "Ya man. Beards are only OK if you are mujahideen on holiday or Mossad tennis stars?"

And another from "Twitter Fayyad" to "Twitter Dahlan." "Bas ya zelameh. I heard you were in Dubai pulling in old favors to get your ex-mukhabarat construction workers' release, no?"

There is a real sense of humor in that last one.

The posts seem to suggest "Twitter Fayyad" is a regular guy with a good sense of humor, which is why he is so favored by many in the West, and scolded by Hamas and Jabha fanatics.

Or is it fake? Is this the waitress telling my wife what she wants to hear, or real honesty from a politician willing to jeopardize his job by telling the truth?

I like to think people who have a sense of humor are also likely to embrace peace. No sense of humor means no chance of ever making peace.

Of course, "Twitter Fayyad" may not be the real Salam Fayyad at all. That's what my friend Hussein Ibish at the American Task Force on Palestine insists, and I believe him.

"Twitter Fayyad" has only 160 followers, and is following 305 others. That's a clue.

Among people he is following are Shakira, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna and Lady Gaga.

In a region of the world where anger, hate and violence dominate the headlines, we could use more humor and a lot more of Shakira, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna and especially Lady Gaga.

Of course, "Twitter Fayyad" could just be another Mossad strategy to throw Palestinians into internal turmoil. It's not hard to believe, and certainly more effective than killing some obscure Hamas operative in Dubai.

Heh.

For the record, I currently follow 93 people and have 639 followers, so I'm doing a bit better than Twitter Fayyad. You can follow me by going here. I do not follow Shakira, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna or especially Lady Gaga. They're not my style.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:49 AM