Someone in the Palestinian Authority should get President Mahmoud Abbas a map — because he seems to be lost and confused. You’d think he’d respond to President Trump’s “Peace to Prosperity” plan by traveling to Jerusalem or Washington to negotiate directly with Israel. Instead, he’s coming to the Big Apple.
On Tuesday, he will speak before the UN Security Council and seek a vote condemning the American plan. This isn’t the first time Abbas has taken a very wrong turn.
After receiving an Israeli peace offer in 2008, he continued down the well-trodden path of Palestinian rejectionism and never delivered a response.
Four years later, Abbas evidently lost his way to the Obama White House, refusing to respond to Israeli gestures and explore ways to break an impasse in negotiations. Instead, he ended up petitioning the UN General Assembly to grant the PA “non-state-observer” status.
Two years ago, the Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel — in recognition of historical fact, present-day political reality and US law. Abbas again ran to Turtle Bay to denounce the administration’s decision instead of negotiating.
As in the past, Abbas is combining his pleas for international sympathy with incitement back home. To generate attention for his dramatics at Turtle Bay, he is inciting violence and calling for the habitual Palestinian “Day of Rage.”
This time, he said he would thwart Trump’s plan “no matter who the victims might be.” As usual, it is Israelis and Palestinians who will pay the price of such incendiary rhetoric.
Perhaps the reason Abbas so often tucks tail and runs to New York is that Palestinians can find a semblance of support only at antiquated international organizations. Like a mother shielding a child fearful of facing reality, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the United Nations and other such institutions still try to shield the Palestinians and their agenda. And they still speak with a fairly unified, anti-Israel voice.
But the diplomatic traditions and bureaucratic mechanisms of these organizations move at glacial paces compared to the rapid transformation of the world outside. Things have changed dramatically — in the Middle East and beyond.
The more accurate barometer of international patience for Abbas’ antics is to be found in national statements and bilateral relations. Here, it is clear that many countries have stopped buying into the lie that Abbas is interested in a peaceful resolution with Israel.
Crucially, that includes many Arab and Muslim countries, which are increasingly weary of Abbas. They are choosing to downgrade the Palestinian issue to refocus on other national priorities, such as guarding against the Iranian threat, thawing relations with Israel to access our defense and tech capabilities and so on.
Hence why Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates sent their ambassadors to the White House for President Trump’s unveiling of his long-awaited plan. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Morocco, meanwhile, urged both sides to entertain the plan.
While international organizations may stand with Abbas, their individual member states and other nations around the world are seeing through continued Palestinian intransigence and rejectionism. They prefer to entertain a more realistic path that could lead to a peaceful resolution, which Trump’s vision represents.
Yet Abbas and his PA remain uninterested in this path forward, choosing instead to seek refuge in the plush halls of the United Nations. Abbas’ performances may resonate with his sycophants at Turtle Bay, but they won’t help the Palestinians living in Jenin, Tulkarm or Qalqilyah. And while his news cycle will be brief, the lasting impact of direct negotiations can be just that: lasting.
Seventy-three years ago, Jewish leaders said “Yes” and never looked back. In the same time, Palestinian Arab leaders have repeatedly said “No” and never stopped looking back.
With his scheduled trip to New York, Abbas is committing the Palestinian people to living in the past. His repeated rejections throughout his decade and a half in office have held his people back from a prosperous future. As Trump, like his predecessors, explained last week, the path toward a brighter future begins with negotiations in Jerusalem.
Someone with the best interests of the Palestinian people in mind would do well to remind Abbas of this fact — and point him in the right direction.
Danny Danon is Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations.
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Mahmoud Abbas makes noise at UN again rather than try to negotiate peace - New York Post
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