Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Palestinians: The Honeymoon with the US is Over

By Bassam Tawil

  • The Palestinians have a condition for the US to be accepted by them as a mediator in the conflict with Israel: bias in favor of the Palestinians. This is the Palestinian state of mind: If you are not with us, you are against us.
  • The Palestinian leadership does not wish to talk about improving the Palestinian economy because Palestinians do not perceive themselves as engaged in an economic conflict with Israel: they perceive themselves as engaged in an existential, struggle-to-the-death conflict with Israel. In their view, for Palestinians to thrive, the State of Israel must go.
  • Notably, the Palestinians reject the idea of Israel making peace with its Arab neighbors. They fear that such peace would come at the expense of them achieving political supremacy over Israel.
In his recent meeting with US presidential envoys Jason Greenblatt (left) and Jared Kushner (center) in Ramallah, an enraged Mahmoud Abbas (right) rejected their demand that he halt payments to terrorists and their families. (Photo by Thaer Ghanaim/PPO via Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump's envoys, Jason Greenblatt and Jared Kushner, are planning to return to the Middle East soon to discuss ways of reviving the stalled "peace process" between Israel and the Palestinians. Greenblatt tweeted last week that he was looking forward to returning to the Middle East "as we pursue peace." He added that Trump was "optimistic," but did not elaborate.
Pursuing peace sounds wonderful. Less wonderful, however, are the facts on the ground of "pursuing peace" with the Palestinians.
Not surprisingly, the Palestinians have returned to their old habit of accusing the US of being "biased" in favor of Israel.
As the US envoys prepare to head to the Middle East, Palestinians are saying that they have lost confidence in the Trump administration, as they have done with all previous administrations.

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