Abbas Blockading All Peace Efforts

 

The reality is there for all to witness if they take even the most causal of observations, the Palestinian Authority (PA) refuses to accept any peace in which the State of Israel is permitted to remain Jewish. World Jewish Congress (WJC) President Ron Lauder published an opinion piece in the New York Times on March 18, 2018, titled, “Israel’s Self-Inflicted Wounds” and is a commentary equating Israeli sins of a presumed occupation and Arab government supported terrorism for preventing any hope of peace. The entire self-hating piece has been proven to be a wrong-headed concept with no validation in the real world. His errors are legion starting with the idea the Arabs are forced to live under Israeli rule when well under five percent of Palestinian Arabs live in areas under Israeli rule. All one need do is read and understand the definitions of the three areas in Judea and Samaria and how each is to be ruled to see the reality. Area A is under PA rule and security where sixty percent of Palestinian Arabs reside. Area B is under PA rule and joint PA-Israeli security and where forty percent of Palestinian Arabs reside. Area A was intended to be the core of the Palestinian Arab State while Part B was where the division between Israeli and Arab and intended to be negotiated. Area C has a minuscule Palestinian Arab population and contains 100% of the Jewish towns, cities, industrial parks and is under Israeli control for both security and rule. Area C was presumed to remain with Israel under the Oslo Accords. PA lies and obscurations  have combined with an eager world attempting to erase as much Israeli presence as possible to expand the PA claims to include all the areas divided between the parties by the Oslo Accords.

 

Ever since the final offers by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made in 2008 were rejected by Mahmoud Abbas, there have been no negotiations as Abbas has refused all invitations to negotiate. During the eight years of the administration of President Obama, Mahmoud Abbas got accustomed to America pressing Israel to make obviously dangerous concessions which Israel refused to accommodate leading to an appearance of Israel being the party resisting any peace proposals. During this time it was beneficial for Mahmoud Abbas to refuse any Israeli offer for face-to-face negotiations and instead allow President Obama and Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to press Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to literally fall on his sword and surrender all of the disputed areas of Judea and Samaria. Prime Minister Netanyahu gallantly fought against these efforts from Washington D.C. while also giving loud protestations and prescient warnings of the dire future being carved out of the Middle East by the Iranian Nuclear Deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA). Mahmoud Abbas watched as the United States had moved slowly but inexorably away from supporting Israel to adopting every last attribute of the PA demands of Israel reaching its apex at the end of the Obama Presidency.

 

Netanyahu Falling on His Own Sword

 

The inauguration of President Trump brought all the good times crashing down around Mahmoud Abbas’s ears and he still had not figured out the new lay of the land. This might be attributed to President Trump’s Secretary of State Rex Tillerson whose Arabist credentials are impeccable. Well, good old Rex is not around any longer as he and his boss, President Trump, were not seeing things eye-to-eye. Rex supported the JCPA, Trump wants to kill it; Rex supported Qatar, Trump placed embargoes on Qatar; Rex supports a Two State Solution, Trump favors Israel; Rex is an Arabist through and through, Trump is an America Firster; Rex was the anti-Donald, the President is Donald Trump so Rex is unemployed and President Trump made a statement on a large number of issues where policy had been ambiguous due to the Secretary of State having his own and contrary agenda. The biggest change in the Middle East came to a head over the Jerusalem announcement which Rex Tillerson opposed quite vehemently which probably was the last straw breaking the camel’s back. President Trump made his announcement that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and would move the American Embassy to Jerusalem. President Trump would really like to officially open the temporary Jerusalem Embassy on May 14 of this year coinciding with Israeli seventieth birthday. Strangely enough, Israeli bureaucracy may prevent such from happening as they are dragging their feet on approvals for the needed changes so the current consulate building can also serve as an embassy until the actual building can be constructed. Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon tweeted President Trump (see below) promising to do all within his power to facilitate all items required for moving the embassy in mid-May. His Tweet was sent in both Hebrew and English so all on both sides would understand where the Israeli Finance Minister stands, and it is with President Trump and simply getting things done, the bureaucracy, not so much. One might come to believe that the Israeli Deep State is working with the United States State Department Deep State.

 

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon Tweet to President Trump

 

Abbas decided to throw a temper tantrum upon the announcement of the United States recognition of Jerusalem and the Israeli capital city and their intent to move the United States Embassy to Jerusalem. He denounced the recognition of Jerusalem to be a Zionist plot pointing out the obvious, that the Jews were running the United States and had control over President Trump. He denounced the United States claiming it had lost its ability to be an arbiter in the peace process and these were things just for starters. Abbas has refused to attend a twenty nation, including seven Arab Nations and Israel, White House Conference on Gaza which Abbas refused to join and included this into his rants referring to this as a ruse by Zionist entities. As we have noted before, Mahmoud Abbas obviously intends to burn all his bridges after crossing them and is burning the fields in a scorched earth practice intending to get President Trump to wither before his onslaught of political suicide and dive in to save him. Apparently President Trump is perfectly willing to allow Mahmoud Abbas to destroy any chance that the Palestinian Arabs have for peace. Abbas with his personal attacks on the American President are only serving to further push the United States into fully supporting Israel. Just like Kim Jong-un has noticed, these antics which instilled trepidation into the veins and arteries of former Presidents, this President, Donald Trump, is made of sterner stuff and these childlike antics simply bounce off him and fall forming embargos against the nation throwing the tantrum. These antics by Abbas has already ended United States support of UNRWA and further embargos have been set against the Arabs in Gaza for their part in aiding Hamas build tunnels within Israeli areas where the IDF patrols, thus finding these tunnels and destroying them. President Trump also appears to be the anti-Europe faction on all items concerning Israel. President Trump has announced that negotiations can begin and be held wherever the parties decide with no preconditions or inducements, just meetings to do the difficult work of hammering out a complete peace deal forming recognized borders ending many centuries of struggles and hardships suffered by both peoples. Abbas appears content with living in his new house built with European donations and allowing time to pass and hopefully Trump will soon pass with time. What Abbas has yet to realize is that the settings have changed and that neither he nor the Europeans are able to turn them back as long as Trump is standing at the switch. These self-destructive antics are simply another diversionary tactic by Abbas waiting for the world to be so disgusted by the lack of peace that they will try to force the European Union’s peace concept on Israel. Such a peace would not be supported by the United States though the United Nations General Assembly would back any plan which would likely harm Israel. But Israel need not worry as there is still time and contrary to predictions and doomsday reports about demographics giving the Arabs within Israel a plurality, such has been proven incorrect with the new numbers which depict the Jewish majority to continue and increase. The future is a bright and wonderful Israel. This too put Rex and the Donald on opposing sides as Rex believed the Arabs would eventually defeat Israel. Let us pray they are correct and Israel does eventually become the beacon and light onto the nations. Then the words of Isaiah 2:4 shall become a reality and “they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift the sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Oh to live to see that day come, that would be a dream come true.

 

Beyond the Cusp