The peace process has been in limbo for quite some time. There is no way out on either front, neither in Ramallah – the principality controlled by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his propaganda machine – nor in the Gaza Strip, the principality controlled by the Islamic terrorist group Hamas.
Meanwhile, things are reportedly advancing well on that issue in talks supposedly being held in New York. The White House peace initiative currently in the works, which is being overseen by President Donald Trump himself with very active involvement by U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, has so far been kept under wraps much longer than expected.
It turns out that a diplomatic breakthrough requires much more than a change of administrations in Washington. Many world leaders, including in Tehran and Ramallah, still believe that all they have to do is continue with their contrarian battles and wait out Trump's presidency. Iran is waging a war against U.S. sanctions with the help of the appeasement-loving European nations; Abbas is waging a battle against the U.S. through the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Someone has apparently convinced Abbas that he can successfully sue the United States at the ICJ over its decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem. An entire cadre of elites is trying to turn the abstract concept of "international law" into a universal constitution that would override national laws and sovereign rights.
Israel could be well served by holding talks with the Palestinian Authority, but it would be best if this point is reached only after things are sorted out in Gaza. A Gaza deal was within reach about a month ago, but it turns out that the Palestinians can't quite close it. They are worse than the British government trying to figure out Brexit. Both the Palestinians and the British like gridlocks, and both have made Israeli lives miserable over the years.
But Israel's Gaza approach is not very rational either. For humanitarian reasons, Israel has yet to take the steps necessary to reach a deal that would have strategic implications. Some cabinet members believe that letting Gaza operate a port in Cyprus under Israeli supervision would be a worthwhile concession that would facilitate a long-term modus vivendi with Hamas. Limited regional deals are much more viable than the big peace deals.
"We believe that the Palestinians are going to have come to the table. President Abbas is not helping the Palestinian people at all. He hasn't acknowledged Hamas," Haley said over the weekend, while meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She added that Abbas is using Hamas against Israel.
Netanyahu then thanked Haley, who is probably the most popular woman in Israel, for "clearing the air out" in the United Nations, although it will take time to get rid of the anti-Israel stench there, as Netanyahu said in his U.N. General Assembly speech.
The Palestinians, who are renewing their war against Israel through other means, are being used as cannon fodder by the Europeans and the United Nations.
