Announcing today a deal to normalize relations with the United Arab Emirates [UAE], 70-year-old Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talked of “full and formal peace” with Gulf Arab States, something that infuriated 84-year-old Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority [PA] Leader Mahmoud Abbas. Netanyahu has quietly over the years engaged Israel with the Gulf States, especially Saudi Arabia, over trade, technology and security transfers, largely to deal with Sunni terrorists that plagued the region for years. Israel’s Mossad security service has coordinated with the Saudi National Security Council [SNSC] to combat Iranian terrorism, sponsoring revolution with Yemen’s Houthi rebels, currently at war with Saudi Arabia. President Donald Trump brokered the UAE deal with Netanyahu getting a commitment to delay indefinitely Israel’s plan to annex territory around Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Abbas said he felt “blindsided” by the UAE move to normalize relations with Israel, calling Gulf States as “sell-out,” for dealing with Israel. What Israel’s deal speaks to is the fact that Palestinians have watched their cause passed by because of the intractable divisions within Palestinian leadership. Since 2007, Palestinians have been divided between Gaza-based Hamas and Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority. Hamas is actively at war with Israel, operating not seeking a peace treaty but pursuing the destruction of Israel. Abbas speaks only for the PA and Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO] not Hamas, leaving Palestinians divided. “No, the PLO, the PA, the Palestinian leadership did not know this was coming. We were blindsided. Their secret dealings are now completely out in the open. It is a complete sell-out,” Abbas said, exposing his isolation.
Abbas acts like any Arab state must seek his approval before developing bilateral relations with Israel. Referring to the UAE as a “sell-out,” shows he can’t fathom that he’s left Palestinians out of the loop because he refuses to make peace with Israel. Egypt didn’t consult PLO founder Yasser Arafat before making peace with Israel in 1979, 41-years ago. No, Abbas act like he’s in charge of Israel and any other Arab state when it comes peacemaking or economic and security arrangements. “It’s an incomparably exciting moment for peace in the Middle East,” Netanyahu said, infuriating Abbas, who’s relegated to the sidelines. Abbas rejected Trump’s Feb. 11 peace plan which would have put at least his Ramallah-based PA on an equal footing with Israel. “The U.S. cannot be the sole mediator,” Abbas said, rejecting Trump’s plan, hoping the U.N. led by Russia could broker an alternative plan.
Abbas doesn’t know that Trump is his best friend, capable of getting him more concessions from Netanyahu than anyone from the U.N. Quartet. Netyanyahu’s announcement of “normalization” with the UAE, simply takes out of the closet another mutually beneficial relationship Israel developed with its neighbors. Abbas’s response speaks volumes of the Palestinian position that he controls Israeli relations with any Arab state. No one stops Abbas from making peace with Israel other that radical Palestinians still working 24/7 to destroy Israel. Hamas routinely holds violent demonstrations on the Israeli-Gaza border, threatening to break down the border fence and stream into Israel. Hamas continues to stockpile rockets and build tunnels into Israeli territory, despite Israel destroying Hamas tunnels. Palestinians expressed outrage over Netanyahu’s deal with the UAE.
Palestinians find themselves on the outs because of their own doing. At any time, Abbas could take center stage working with the Trump administration to hammer out a peace deal with Israel. Calling the deal “secret dealings/normalization,” Palestinian veteran spokewoman Hanan Ashrawi expressed outrage. “Normalization is a stab in the back of the Palestinian cause, and it serves only the Israeli occupation,” said Gaza-based Fawzi Barhoum, spokesman for the armed Islamist group. Barhoum knows that Israel has an ongoing peace treaty with Egypt, something not subject to Hamas or PLO censorship. If Hamas or the PLO feels “stabbed in the back,” they need to try to reconcile difference and speak with one voice. No one keeps Palestinians from making peace other than Palestinians unwilling to negotiate a peace deal, reciting the same arguments made after the 1967 Six Day War.
Israel’s peace deal with the UAE should remind Palestinians that they remain on the sidelines as long as they refuse to negotiate. Calling Trump’s proposal “Swiss cheese” for a Palestinian state fails to recognize that everything’s open for negotiation. Abbas should pay attention to Natanyahu suspending any decision to annex parts of the West Bank. “He [Netanyahu] deceived us. He has deceived half ad million residents of the area and hundreds of thousands of voters,” said David Elhayani, head of the Yesha Council of Settlers, showing the kind of harsh backlash Netanyahu faces from Jewish West Bank settlers. Instead of complaining about Israel’s relations with other Arab states, Abbas should accept Trump’s plan as a starting point to work on a Palestinian state. No one stabs Palestinians in back when they negotiate their own deals with Israel for their country’s best interests.
