Palestinian Authority’s 85-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas asked the Sudan government of hand over confiscated Palestinian assets, something seized by the current Sudan government. Unlike the past government of former President Omar al-Bashir, the current government of Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok signed a peace treaty with Israel over Hamas and PLO objections, part of former President Donald Trump decision to bypass Gaza-based Hamas and Ramallah-based Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO] AKA the Palestinian Authority since the 1993 Oslo Accords. Since Hamdok signed a normalization agreement with Israel Oct. 23, 2020, Sudan is no longer interested in the old hatred of Palestinians, unable to pivot from unrealistic demands to insist Israel returns to the pre-1967 Six-Day-War borders. Israel has already given back Egypt’s Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula
Yet if you listen to Hamas President Ismail Haniyeh, you’d think it was 1948, with Palestinians still refusing to recognize the state of Israel, now over 73-yeas old. Despite all previous peace deals including the 1979 Camp David and 1993 Oslo Accords, 85-year-old Mahmoud Abbas told the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 24 that if Israel doesn’t return to the pre-1967 War borders, Israel could return to one-state, primarily controlled by Palestinians. Abbas has made other dire warnings in the past largely out of politics, especially when Hamas seized the Gaza Strip from the PLO June 10, 2007, creating a massive headache the United States trying to pursue through diplomacy a two-state solution. Trump favored a two state solution but refused the PLO’s demands that Israel return to the pre-1967 borders. Abbas cancelled parliamentary elections April 30, fearing that Hamas would win.
Abbas’s strident speech warning of all-out war with Israel is preposterous, knowing that neither Hamas nor the PLO could make a dent in the Israeli Defense Forces. Hamas has fought at least four wars with Israel since 2007, all resulting in the Gaza Strip decimated by a superior Israeli military. Abbass’s PLO have steered clear of any direct conflict with Israel, worried that Israel could displace him for his headquarters in Ramallah, the West Bank. Abbas’s erratic demands made yesterday at the U.S. show that he’s trying to placate Hamas, whose militants continue to battle Israel to the death, despite knowing that they only wreak more death-and-destruction on the dilapidated Gaza Strip. Arab Gulf States used to bail out Hamas and the PLO in the past but want nothing to do with more armed conflict against Israel. Had the late PLO founder Yasser not gone to war in 1967, Israel would not occupy the West Bank.
Now Abbas, struggling with the PLO running out of cash, demands the Sudan turn over confiscated Palestinian assets. “We hope that the state of #Sudan, which has always been a supporter (people and government) of #Palestine, to hand over the movable and immovable funds that were confiscated to the State of Palestine and its Government,” said Hussein al-Shekh, senior Palestinian official, speaking for Abbas. Abbas hasn’t caught up to the reality that Sudan, with its peace agreement with Israel, isn’t about to hand Hamas or PLO cash with which to wage war against Israel. Since peace deals with the United Arab Emirates [UAE] and Qatar, Hamas and the PLO have fallen into disrepute because they both seek war with Israel. In yesterday’s U.N. speech, Abbas threatened more war with Israel, something no longer acceptable to Gulf Arab States, only perhaps with Iran.
Hamas reacted harshly to Sudan’s decision to not release any confiscated Palestinian assets. “What happened in #Sudan is a conflict between the civilian and military part in #Hamdok’s government to win U.S. support. A cheap game using the name of the movement as slander,” wrote Abu Marzouk. Marzouk said the Sheikh was “fishing in troubled waters,” accusing the new Sudan government of collusion with Israel. Hamas and the PLO don’t get the change in Arab states, no longer buying the longstanding Palestinian argument that Israel is occupying Palestinian lands. Gone are the days of Arafat where he could use Hamas as a bludgeon against Israel, promising more terrorism if Israel didn’t acquiesce to Palestinian demands, especially the unrealistic right-of-return, demanding that Israel cede sovereign territory to allow Palestinians to replace the Jewish State.
Hamas and the PLO no longer enjoy the confidence of Arab states, especially in the Gulf, to pursue peace with Israel. Abbas demanded yesterday that Israel abandon the West Bank and Golan Heights, returning to the pre-1967 War borders, leaving Israel without any buffer zone to fend off Palestinian attacks. Abbas talks about a one-state solution where Israeli is pushed into the Mediterranean, the same nonsense preached by radicals since the 1948 War of Independence. Hamas and the PLO find themselves running out of cash, with less Arab states willing to subsidize an ongoing state of war, where Palestinian territories are decimated in ongoing wars. Holding back on Palestinian funds, Sheikh Hamdok wants assurance from Hamas and the PLO that they’ll refrain from war-making against Israel. Abbas knows that his days are numbered leading his Ramallah-based government.
