Posted on 12/24/2017 2:43:25 PM PST by fluorescence
The disconnect between the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas and the US administration of President Donald Trump has widened still further, Israeli TV reports claimed Sunday night.
Abbas is said to have told all PA officials that Trump is “a lost cause” and to have ordered the PA to sever all contacts with US diplomatic officials, including those of the US consulate in East Jerusalem responsible for Palestinian affairs.
The US administration, for its part, was reported to have indicated that it is seeking a Palestinian interlocutor other than Abbas with whom it might be able to do business.
The unconfirmed reports, on Israel’s two main television stations, follow Abbas’ declared refusal to have anything further to do with Trump’s peace team in the wake of the American president’s December 6 declaration recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announcing the intended relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city.
According to Hadashot TV news, Abbas has made clear to his aides that he is “not merely closing the door” on further dealings with the Trump administration, “but also throwing away the key.”
Abbas canceled a planned meeting last week with US Vice President Mike Pence (who subsequently postponed his entire trip to the region because of domestic imperatives), and made plain that neither he nor any PA leaders would meet with Trump peace envoy Jason Greenblatt, who has been here in recent days. Abbas said last week that he would not accept any Trump administration peace plan and reiterated that the US could no longer serve as a peace broker. Now, the TV report said, Abbas has instructed the entire PA apparatus to sever contacts with all US officials, including those at the US consulate.
The same report quoted an unnamed US official source saying that the Trump administration will not present its intended peace plan so long as Abbas is boycotting the Trump team.
The source said the US recognizes that the Palestinians need a “cooling off” period after the Jerusalem declaration, that the US remains committed to achieving an accord, that it has no intention of seeking to impose one, but that it still hopes Abbas will change his stance.
Abbas, however, realizing that the US plan will not meet Palestinian demands, has no intention of lifting his boycott of the Trump administration, the report said.
The report asserted that this sequence of events represents good news for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has now secured US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but will not have to worry about US pressure for concessions to the Palestinians in the foreseeable future.
Responding to the Hadashot news report, a White House official was dismissive. “Apparently, the outlet that has reported this hasn’t been paying attention over the past several months,” the official told The Times of Israel. “As we have said over and over again, we will not impose a peace deal. That is not news. We anticipated a cooling off period and remain as committed to peace as ever and are working hard on our plan, which we will present when the time is right.”
A second report, on Channel 10 news, offered a slightly different narrative, based, it said, on Palestinian sources. According to this report, the US has indicated that it would like to find an alternative Palestinian leader — one who is prepared to deal with the US administration.
This notion, the TV report said, was “worrying” for Abbas and his loyalists, particularly since two names being mentioned as possible alternative Palestinian leaders are Mohammad Dahlan, a former close aide and now a bitter rival of Abbas, and Salam Fayyad, who Abbas ousted as PA prime minister and who is highly regarded in Washington.
The Channel 10 report further stated that Trump has been working with Saudi Arabia to try to pressure Abbas into accepting the intended US peace plan, and that the Saudis have warned Abbas that if he does not do so, he will need to resign. Reports to this effect have been circulating in the region for weeks, even as Saudi leaders have criticized Trump’s Jerusalem declaration and publicly backed Abbas’s demand for East Jerusalem to serve as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
In his December 6 declaration on Jerusalem, Trump stressed that the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in the city would still have to be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians. His speech, welcomed by Netanyahu and Israeli leaders across most of the political spectrum, infuriated Abbas and regional leaders because it was perceived to be prejudging the fate of the disputed holy city. At the UN on Thursday, a resolution rejecting Trump’s move was approved by 128 votes to 9; the resolution had been vetoed by the US in the Security Council two days earlier.
Abbas has encouraged a series of “days of rage” in the territories since Trump’s declaration. The Islamist terror group Hamas, which rules Gaza and seeks to destroy Israel, has been demanding a violent new intifada.
It’s Christmas Eve and the Herods of this world continue to rage...
Cut the cash flow from USA
....This operation will fold in short order.
They can do no other......they haven’t figured out who they’re ‘really’ raging against.
Exactly.
More winning.
Now cut off the money. Let the savages starve to death in the dark.
L
Good! No talkey no money.
Muzzie ankle biter.
As if anything was going to come of talks with this pretender.
Abbas is just chagrined that Trump sees him for exactly who and what he is.
Abbas will have to wait for the next moronic Kenyan to come along.
Bet he won’t refuse to cash the checks.
So we no longer need that consulate in East Jerusalem. Great news!
Close it down and reopen it next week as the US Embassy to Israel.
“Abbas has encouraged a series of “days of rage” in the territories since Trump’s declaration. The Islamist terror group Hamas, which rules Gaza and seeks to destroy Israel, has been demanding a violent new intifada.”
So far, what is it, 12 Palestinians who died raging?
Informative article with lots of detail. I hope it’s accurate, but it’s sometimes difficult to separate propaganda from the facts.
Yep.
If the PA had enough power the Israelis would be swimming in the sea.
The Israelis do have the power but the PA isn’t swimming.
I be okay if the PA was though.
Abbas is said to have told all PA officials that Trump is “a lost cause” and to have ordered the PA to sever all contacts with US diplomatic officials, including those of the US consulate in East Jerusalem responsible for Palestinian affairs.
This is when a shrewd Poker Play with Big Balls, makes a public announcement for All American Citizens and Israeli citizens to vacate the Palestine Area immediately, in 12 Hours the bombing starts.
I don’t think the US and west bank Pals should be talking to each other at all. If they want to talk to us, they can do so through the Israelis or Jordanians. As for us, we have absolutely no reason to talk to them, ever.
This is a regional problem which can be handled by the regional players themselves, Israel, Egypt, Jordan. Involving outsiders only amplifies the problem.
Time for Trump to save a lot more $$$$$$... Goodbye UNRWA
International aid to Palestinians
From Wikipedia
International aid has played a major role in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict as the Palestinians claim it has been used as a means to keep the peace process going, and the Israelis that it is used to fund terrorism.[1]
The Palestinian National Authority in the West Bank and Gaza Strip receives one of the highest levels of aid in the world. A dispute exists as to whether Palestinians or Israelis are the largest per capita beneficiaries of foreign aid.[2]
Aid has been offered to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and other Palestinian Non-governmental organizations (PNGOs) by the international community, including International Non-governmental Organizations (INGOs).
The entities that provide aid to the Palestinians are categorized into seven groups: the Arab nations, the European Union, the United States, Japan, international institutions (including agencies of the UN system), European countries, and other nations.[3]
In 2013 UNRWA received $294m from the US, $216.4 million from the EU, $151.6 million from Saudi Arabia, $93.7 million from Sweden, $54.4 million from Germany, $53 million from Norway, $34.6 million from Japan, $28.8 million from Switzerland, $23.3 million from Australia, $22.4 million from the Netherlands, $20 million from Denmark, $18.6 million from Kuwait, $17 million from France, $12.3 million from Italy, $10.7 million from Belgium as well as $10.3 million from all other countries, totaling just over $1 billion in 2013.
If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
Outstanding. The counselate, which has been in Jerusalem for over a century, deals with palestinians. The only Counselate independent of an Embassy in the world. I'm not upset that Palestinians can't get visas due to the boycott.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.