Pleading with the U.N. for international supervision of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, 80-year-old Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas called on the U.N. to intervene. Despite weeks of violence in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, Abbas can’t get to see how a new “intifada” or Palestinian uprising wins the beleaguered population anything, other than more misery at the hands of a superior Israeli Defense Forces. Abbas hoped to avoid the bargaining table and gain recognition for statehood in the U.N. Security Council or General Assembly, whose votes are non-binding. Abbas was irked by Israeli President Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu saying that Jerusalem’s Grand Mufti Haq Amin al-Husseini met with Hitler sometime before the Holocaust, urging Hitler to “burn” all Jews. Abbas, like other Israeli politicians, thought Bibi crossed the line
Netanyahu often invokes the Holocaust to characterize the PLO’s—and other Palestinian groups like Hamas—commitment to destroy Israel. Palestinians believe the British government erred giving Jews the British Mandate of Palestine after the Holocaust, to, once-and-for-all, give Jews a homeland. Arabs living in Jordan’s East Jerusalem and the West Bank or Egypt’s Gaza Strip felt cheated by Israel’s 1948 declaration of statehood, fighting at least four wars to topple the Jewish State. It was the 1967 Six Day War where Palestinians, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, backed by eight other Arab states, attacked Israel June 5, 1967 where all the real problems began. Defeated in six days, Israel seized Egypt’s Gaza Strip, Jordan’s East Jerusalem and West Bank and Syria’s Golan Heights as buffer zones. Not one inch of Israeli spoils were recognized as Palestinian land.
After a humiliating defeat, the PLO, led by its founder Yasser Arafat, referred to all Israeli spoils of the 1967 War as “occupied territories.” Not one inch of the land owned by Egypt, Jordan and Syria, were called “occupied territories” when controlled by sovereign Arab states. Only after Israel seized “spoils” of the 1967 War did Palestinians refer to the land as “occupied” by Israel. Arafat founded the PLO June 2, 1964 with 100% backing from Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser, working night-and-day to destroy Israel. Abbas’s frustration over a Palestinian State stems from not dictating terms with Netanyahu. Peace efforts led by U.S. presidents, including Lyndon Johnson (D-Texas), Richard Nixon (R-Calif.), Gerald Ford (R-Mich.), Jimmy Carter (D-Ga.), Ronald Reagan (R-Calif.), George H.W. Bush (R-Maine), Bill Clinton (D-Ark.), George W. Bush (R-Texas) and Barack Obama (D-Il.) all failed.
Abbas now hangs on Netanyahu’s every word, especially his latest gaffe suggesting that Jerusalem’s Grand Mufti gave Hitler the idea for the Holocaust. Netanyahu’s known to play fast-and-loose with his rhetoric, this time going off the rails. “He prefers to blame Palestinians for everything—even the Holocaust. You all know that’s totally false. It is untrue and baseless,” said Abbas, making his point that Netanyahu’s too unreasonable to work toward a two-state solution. Abbas knows that he’s got a big problem with Gaza’s Hamas government wanting no part of two-state solution with Israel. Abbas presides over only the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where the Palestinian economy remains in shambles, aside from some friendly tourism from Muslims and Christians visiting holy sites. Violence in East Jerusalem hurts the Israeli and Palestinian economies.
Abbas blames the recent violence in East Jerusalem and West Bank on nearly 50 years of Israeli occupation, complaining things are worse than they were in 1948. PLO and Hamas leadership in Gaza likes to blame Israel for all their economic woes, when the Israeli economy is one of the strongest in the Middle East. Abbas wants the Security Council to establish a “special regime of international protection for our Palestinian people,” taking no responsibility for the rioting that left 11 Israelis and 55 Palestinians dead in the last five weeks. Abbas pleads for U.N. supervision but acts clueless about the spate of rock throwing, tire burning and stabbings, looking much like past uprisings. With U.S. Amb. Susan Powers sitting on the Security Council, it’s doubtful that Abbas would get his wishes of a defacto state. Calling on the Security Council to “shoulder its responsibilities,” Abbas does the opposite.
Abbas follows a long tradition as PLO Chairman of showing little willingness to compromise with Netanyahu in direct talks. Instead of letting the U.S. broker another round of peace talks, Abbas has given the green light to Palestinian youth to riot in East Jerusalem in the West Bank. Speaking to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Abbas knows he’s got some sympathy but has no teeth to bypass direct talks with Israel to work out the details of a comprehensive Mideast Peace. Israel’s U.N. Amb. Eviastar Manor called Abbas out for pandering to the U.N. Human Rights Council, demonizing Israel but taking no responsibility for the spate of Palestinian stabbings prompting Netanyahu to ratchet up security at Temple Mount and al-Aqsa Mosque. Like Arafat before his death Nov. 11, 2004, Abbas hasn’t learned that violence against Israel only hurts Palestinians and postpones a two-state solution.
