PLO’s Abbas Emerges As Incredible Shrinking Man

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The New York Sun

Mahmoud Abbas, like the protagonist of the eponymous 1959 horror movie, is the Incredible Shrinking Man — even here at the United Nations.

Mr. Abbas likes to be addressed as President of the State of Palestine. In reality he wields little influence in the West Bank. He lost Gaza to his rival, Hamas. His Fatah lieutenants and erstwhile allies are openly gearing up for a succession battle that will likely turn bloody. Even in his 15th year of a 4-year elected stint as president, the 84-year old Mr. Abbas refuses to name a successor.

Then, there’s the ever-vanishing Israeli Left. Former allies in Israel increasingly dismiss Mr. Abbas as irrelevant, even as they profess to side with the Palestinian Arabs’ struggle for a state. A former prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said Tuesday in a joint press conference with Mr. Abbas that he’s “the only partner who represents the Palestinian people, and he manifested the will to negotiate.”

Mr. Olmert, who as premier presented Mr. Abbas with far reaching concessions only to be rejected, has lost any political base in Israel since he was incarcerated over corruption-related charges. Yet contrary to expectations of what would happen today, even Mr. Olmert urged Mr. Abbas not to reject President Trump’s peace plan.

The rejection, it was clear, was precisely the reason Mr. Abbas came to Turtle Bay. His most important constituency, has been the one he calls the international community. And now it too is slipping away.

“One hundred and forty countries recognized us” as a state, Mr. Abbas told the Security Council Tuesday. Then he listed all those that supposedly joined his battle against the latest detailed American blueprint for peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

The attempt to unite Turtle Bay against America, however, quickly hit the skids. The much-hyped Security Council session the Palestinian Arabs organized Tuesday was no more than a collection of canned speeches. Mr. Abbas was hoping for much more. Backed by Tunisia, Indonesia, and South Africa, he prepared a resolution dismissing the Trump plan and condemning it as violation of all past United Nations resolutions.

Mr. Abbas was hoping for a united front. Fourteen of the 15 Council members would support his America-bashing, while America by its lonesome would be forced to wield a self-defeating veto.

Oops. Even after softening the resolution’s language by removing America’s name (but still condemning Mr. Trump’s plan), Mr. Abbas failed to get nine supporters, the minimum needed to bring a proposal for a vote. So, at least for now, the proposed resolution has been shelved.

Meanwhile, Tunisia fired its envoy to the United Nations, Moncef Baati, who had coordinated the drafting of the anti-American resolution. On Tuesday Mr. Baati’s deputy, Tarek al-Adab, denied a connection between the firing and the resolution’s drafting, but Tunis’s difficult position is clear: On the one hand, holding the rotating Arab Security Council seat, it must represent the lowest Arab common denominator, which is a reflexive rejection.

Yet, the new Tunisian government is more moderate and more pro-American than its predecessor. Under Washington’s pressure, therefore, Mr. Baati had to go so Tunis can get on America’s good side.

Tunisia’s dilemma is indicative of new trends across the Arab world. Leaders are tired of Mr. Abbas’s endless shenanigans and are eager to strike mutually beneficial deals with Israel. Futile solidarity with Palestinians who can’t, or won’t, get their act together gets them nowhere.

So yes, Mr. Abbas can still unite trite, old bodies like the Arab League or the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which was formerly known as the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The Organization and the League have united in rejection of Mr. Trump’s plan.

Individual Arab leaders, though, send other signals. Last week the de-facto ruler of Sudan, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, met with Prime Minister Netanyahu at Entebbe, and according to Arab press reports, Washington is trying to organize a similar meeting between Mr. Netanyahu and the Saudi crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman.

Mr. Abbas’s last-ditch attempt to emerge from isolation is an appeal to anti-Trump sentiments in America itself. On Tuesday he waved a letter rejecting Washington’s peace plan, which he claimed was signed by 107 House reps and 12 Senators — including, he boasted, “even presidential candidates.”

Indeed, if elected, Bernie Sanders, for one, would reverse many of Mr. Trump’s pro-Israel moves. Other Democrats may be tempted to stiffen opposition to Israel’s policies. Yet according to polls, American voters still favor Israel over the Palestinians by large margins, so no American president could stray too far from supporting Jerusalem. Moving the embassy to Jerusalem originally passed the two houses of Congress by an almost unanimous vote.

In any event, any American attempt to rely on Mr. Abbas is bound to hit a wall. As Israel’s envoy at the world body, Danny Danon, told stunned Council members Tuesday, “Progress toward peace will not be made so long as President Abbas remains in his position.” This incredible shrinking man’s is rapidly losing his cause.

________

Mr. Avni, who is based at the United Nations, is a contributing editor to The New York Sun and can be followed on Twitter

@bennyavni.


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