Rejected by Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority Dec. 24, 2017 one day after President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the White House moved full steam ahead with a Mideast peace plan. Presenting the president’s play to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Qatar, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner his U.S. Israeli Amb. Jason Greenbaltt have managed to gain preliminary approval for the plan that offers economic help for the dilapidated Gaza Strip and recognizes East Jerusalem as capital of a new Palestinian state. Called the “deal of the century” by Trump, Abbas and Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh showed zero interest. After trying to crash through Israel’s border fence on the Gaza Border since March, Hamas believes in armed struggle to destroy Israel. Arab officials are growing tired of Palestinian demands, dating back to Israel’s May 14, 1948 independence.
Rejecting the well-constructed peace plan out of hand has angered Arab officials believing Palestinians aren’t putting their best foot forward. Mired in a bitter rivalry between Hamas and the Ramallah-based Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO], there’s no consensus other than to reject any U.S. peace deal. When you think that Abbas broke off diplomatic relations with the U.S. simply because Trump announced the move of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, it shows he doesn’t get Trump’s intention of giving Palestinians a fair deal. Abbas knows that only the U.S. can lean on Israel to get the kind of concessions to complete a peace deal. Abbas and Haniyeh keep promoting the utter fantasy about a “march-of-return,” when Israel’s borders were established by the United Nations May 11, 1949. Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has met in Jerusalem since 1949.
Speaking June 24 for the Palestinian Al-Quds newspaper, Daniel Siryoti, the Arab affairs commentator, was critical of Abbas’ ability, or willingness, to make a deal. According to Siryoti, the leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar, all agree with the Trump peace plan presented by Kushner and Greenblatt. “Despite the strategic mistakes made by Abu Mazen [Abbas] and his people,” said an unnamed Egyptian official, “Kushner and Greenblatt were told, in no uncertain terms, that the Palestinian people deserve an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” confirming that Abbas’ reason for breaking off ties with Trump were unwarranted. When Trump decided to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, it didn’t prejudice Palestinians one iota, despite Abbas’ claims. Trump wanted nothing more than to push the peace process to a satisfactory completion.
Kushner and Greenblatt assured Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Jordan’s King Hussein, that nothing in the peace deal would compromise Palestinians right with or without Palestinian leadership. Abbas’ refusal to talk to the U.S. delegation shows that he’s more interested in the status quo than creating an independent Palestinian state. Saudi Foreign Minister Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urges Abbas to reconsider rejection of the White House. Rejecting the White House scores Abbas points with Hamas and other radical Islamist groups but doesn’t get Palestinians an independent state. Haniyeh told Palestinians in Gaza to take back their land, prompting violent protests on the Israel border resulting in 129 deaths and hundreds of injuries. Israel’s Hayom newspaper quoted a senior Jordanian official saying Palestinian leadership is becoming “irrelevant with respect to the peace process.”
Palestinains’ “march of return” is not about land captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day-War. When Haniyeh and Abbas talk of a “march of return,” they’re referring to the May 11, 1949 U.N.-approved borders. Neither Haniyeh nor Abbas believe their own propaganda about taking over Israel. Former Palestinian comrades-in-arms, Egypt and Jordan, have heard enough from Abbas and Haniyech about any “march of return.” No Arab state is ready to spill blood in another futile conflict to conquer Israel. “Arab states will not be the ones to throw an wrench in the wheels of the peace process, and that Abbas continued refusal to work with Americans will lead to regional peace plan being launched without him,” said an anonymous Jordanian official. Without the U.S., Palestinians have zero chance of getting any peace deal since Hamas is officially still at war with Israel.
Trump faces long odds getting Palestinians to buy into a peace deal because they’ve built their future in Gaza and the West Bank on destroying Israel. Palestinians in Gaza and West Banak only know armed struggle against Israel. Seeking a peace deal would place the onus of managing an independent state on Gaza and Ramallah, both notorious for running both regions into the g round. Keeping a war footing allows Hamas and the PLO to continue to beat the war drums, helping justify to beaten down citizens intolerable living conditions. “There is an American insistence on not deal with the Palestinian side in order to create an overwhelming pressure on them internally and through the regional Arab states,” said Osama Hamdan, a Hams member living in Lebanon. Hamdan knows that Hamas and PLO have rejected any-and-all White House White House efforts to make peace.
