Unable to get statehood bypassing direct negotiations with Israel, 80-year-old Palestine Liberation Chairman Mahmoud Abbas gave a green light to Palestinians to stage another intifada or uprising, hoping enough violence forces the U.S. and U.N. to pressure Israel into making concessions. Unlike previous attempts to blackmail Israel, Abbas deals with a different bird in 66-year-old Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Unlike his predecessors, Netanyahu came to age post Sept. 11 where former President George W. Bush stopped the old ways to pressuring Israel into making concessions. President Barack Obama has forgotten the Bush-43 Doctrine of not dealing with terrorists, no matter what their cause. Accepting terrorism—namely, killing innocent civilians to advance a political agenda—was rejected by Bush, breaking of relations with the late PLO Chief Yasser Arafat.
Obama and his Secretary of State John Kerry forgot the lessons of Sept. 11: That terrorism, in a post-Sept. 11 world, can’t be tolerated. Calling the three-month old wave of stabbings against Israelis a “justified popular uprising,” Abbas shows why he’s not fit the lead the PLO. While there’s little difference between Arafat and Abbas, the thing that joins them at the hip is a failed Palestinian government. Arafat used to siphon off millions from the generous donations made by oil-rich Gulf states, leaving the economy teetering on bankruptcy. What’s different today, started June 14, 2007, was the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip. Arafat negotiated on behalf of all Palestinians, not those living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Unlike Arafat, Abbas doesn’t have the backing of Hamas, who’s committed to Israel’s destruction, rejecting all past agreements recognizing Israel’s right to exist.
Kerry said today that he’s not sure of Israel’s “endgame,” meaning whether or not a two-state’s solution’s in the cards. Netanyahu doesn’t accept past concessions to complete a two-state solution, including Israel retreating to the pre-1967 War borders. Former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton all operated on the premise that a comprehensive peace could only come from Israel retreating to the pre-1967 borders. After the 1979 Camp David Accords negotiated by Carter returning the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, Iraael watched the area flooded by Islamic terrorists. When the late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon returned the Gaza Strip to PLO Aug. 13, 2006, it didn’t take long for Hamas terrorists to seize the 1.5 million Mediterranean enclave from the PLO June 15, 2007. Knowing the spread terrorism, Netanyahu’s reluctant to trade more land-for-peace.
Spending over a year pushing Netanyahu and Abbas into a peace deal, Kerry’s efforts collapsed July 20, 2014, prompting Abbas to make an end run in the U.N., eventually leading to the current uprisings. U.S. officials, especially newly minted ISIS czar Robert Malley who was part of Clinton’s 2000 negotiating team, blame Israel for not returning to the old land-for-peace formula, known as U.N. Resolution 242, calling on Israel to return to the pre-Six-Day-War borders. What U.S. negotiators don’t like to talk about is the widespread corruption inside the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Abbas thinks current Palestinian stabbing attacks are a “justified popular uprising” against Israel but the rebellion is just as much against the PLO. Palestinians—especially the youth—see no future with a failed economic state whose decision to go to war have more to do with Gaza and Ramallah running out of cash.
Palestinian government in Gaza and the West Bank do nothing but blame Israel for all their economic woes. Neither side admits to widespread corruption and misuse of generous donations from oil-rich Gulf states. Blaming Israel continuously brainwashes Gaza and the West Bank residents to remain on a war footing. Hamas’s 2014 war with Israel, lasting six-weeks, devastated the seaside enclave, causing billions in damage and breaking what’s left of the economy. Gaza’s Hamas boss Ismail Haniyeh kept telling Gazan’s they were close to conquering Israel, fueling weeks of rocket attacks and futile violence. Today’s Palestinians, in Gaza and the West Bank, mirror a recent poll showing the 66% of the populations backs the uprising against Israel. White House officials, despite pushing Netanyahu back to the table, know that Netanyahu won’t play ball unless the violence stops.
Visiting Abbas numerous times to broker a Mideast peace, Kerry hasn’t told Abbas that terrorism won’t be tolerated by the U.S. State Department. “We cannot ask the youth why they are going out [to revolt],” said Abbas, giving Palestinians the green light to attack Israelis. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza believe that a full-fledged uprising or Intifada will force Israel into concessions. As long a Netanyahu remains at the helm, the Israel government will only crack down on violence, driving peace talks beyond reach. Kerry wonders about the endgame. He needs to state unequivocally to Abbas he won’t get U.S. backing—or cash—unless the violence stops. Since starting peace talks in 2013, the Obama administration reverted back to pre-Sept. 11 policies tolerating Palestinian terrorism as act of resistance. Israel’s national security is too closely tied to the U.S. for risky compromises.
