Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has dug himself and his people into a trench and put a wall up around them to stop them from entering negotiations with Israel. He has refused to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump or even allow Palestinian representatives to meet delegates sent by Trump.
On Tuesday, Abbas refused to send delegates to an important meeting in Washington wholly devoted to the deteriorating economic situation in the Gaza Strip, a meeting attended by representatives from 19 countries, including Israel and Arab countries that do not maintain formal ties with Israel.
Ostensibly, all this is because the U.S. has recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and Trump has ordered the U.S. Embassy to be moved there. As a result, Abbas claims, the U.S. has disqualified itself from filling the role of mediator and is past redemption.
One might think from all this that had Trump not recognized Jerusalem, the Palestinians were planning to sprint to the negotiating table and sit down seriously to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for once and for all – that they were ready, willing and able to make concessions and agree to compromise.
The sad truth is that Abbas flees from any negotiations that would force him to actually compromise. He and his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, fled from the 2000 Camp David summit at which then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered shared recognition of the Temple Mount's holiness to both Judaism and Islam. He fled a decade ago when then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered to split Jerusalem in exchange for the Palestinians relinquishing the "right" of return. In recent years, he has categorically refused to enter negotiations until Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu withdraws his demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish nation-state.
At the moment, he is holding on to Trump's declaration as an excuse to continue running away from talks with Israel, even though Washington has made it clear that its recognition has no bearing on the fate of the Middle East. Instead of negotiating, Abbas is seeking help abroad to bring about a new U.N. Security Council resolution favoring the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and trying to achieve full member status in other international organizations in the hope that global powers will intervene more to force a settlement on Israel.
There is no escaping the conclusion that Abbas, at 83 and in deteriorating health, is less enthusiastic than ever to take part in a process that would end with his having to make a complicated and difficult historic decision. It is even more difficult for him to commit to this because his reputation among the Palestinian population is in the gutter and Hamas ceaselessly accuses him of collaborating with Israel.
It appears he would prefer to leave peacemaking and its accompanying headaches to his successor. This way, he will be written into history as one who did not surrender an inch of "Palestine."
However, this does not mean that Israel should stop worrying about the future or stop trying to speak with the moderate Arab countries that also worry about Gaza's fate. It also does not mean Israel should stop brainstorming to outline what is desirable or possible for Judea and Samaria.
