Image: PA President Mahmoud Abbas signs international agreements in Ramallah, December 31, 2014. Photo by Reuters (Courtesy Haaretz.com)
For years, the Palestinian president Abbas has deluded himself that the United States would act to end the Israeli occupation during his lifetime. On Wednesday, he was forced to abandon his illusions.
The fifth column that benefits from Palestinian division and that feels threatened by its end is still searching for opportunities to sabotage Palestinian national reconciliation. It must have seen the Gaza bombings as a perfect opportunity to fan the flames of discord, offering a service free of charge to the occupation (presuming the best possible intentions under that situation), or not free of charge (presuming the worst).
Washington’s response to the speech that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivered at the UN General Assembly last September 26 confirms that the bilateral Palestinian-U.S. relations are heading for stormy times.
Israel has never renounced violence. It repeatedly wages war and unleashes its instruments of state terrorism against the Palestinians under occupation. It has flagrantly and repeatedly violated every agreement signed with the PLO. It has not even reciprocated the PLO’s recognition of Israel, nor has it officially acknowledged the Palestinians’ right to establish a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu and Abbas [file]. (photo credit:REUTERS)
In June, a recording was leaked in which Saeeb Erekat, the Palestinian Chief Prosecutor claimed that Abbas had promised the Israeli Premier Benyamin Netanyahu not to make the application to the International Criminal Court.
Image: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he delivers a speech during a press conference at the prime minister office in Jerusalem, on 27 August.
Israel’s latest settlement drive confirms its leaders have no intention of making a concession on Palestinian statehood to Abbas
What’s plainly not needed is that various states take the carnage in Gaza to simply make pronouncements denouncing Israel and the United States for political gain without invoking the legal remedies that are available to them to potentially protect Palestinians in Gaza. Of course, such a course will likely mean serious retribution of some sort from Israel and likely the United States.
This is not an opinion. It is well established fact that the parties forming the current Israeli government are ideologically opposed to the peace process and to halting the expansions of the “Jewish only” colonies on occupied land.
“For every settler home built, Palestinians lose territory needed not only for a state but also to keep individual families living where they are now. The innocuous term “settlements” conceals their true role: as Israel’s primary vehicle for ethnic cleansing Palestinians through dispossession and harassment”
by Jonathan Cook
by Alan Hart
On the face of it that’s a silly question and the speculation it represents – that Palestinian “President” Abbas could replaced by an Israeli agent or asset – is not worthy of discussion. But before dismissing it readers might do what I did and consider two things.
