The Arab League's decision to support Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' rejection of US President Donald Trump's peace plan came as a disappointment to Washington, but didn't cause shockwaves across the Middle East – or even in Ramallah for that matter.
Aside from a sparsely attended demonstration at a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, there were no demonstrations in any Arab capital demanding "full rights" for the Palestinians. Even those who signed the Arab League resolution were placid. The United Arab Emirates' foreign minister continued tweeting about the need to examine the American proposal seriously, and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi gave senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, the architect of the plan, quality screen time to tell the Egyptian people why the Palestinians were now missing a golden opportunity they will never get back. Anyone who watched Kushner's interview with Egyptian journalist Amr Adeeb could tell he believes that moderate Arab states will continue normalizing ties with Israel regardless of the Palestinian position on the deal of the century.
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The streets and squares of Judea and Samaria were also quiet, and in the large Palestinian cities, aside from sporadic disturbances here and there, tempers weren't particularly enflamed in the wake of Abbas' speech. If the PA president expected a massive outpouring of support from the Palestinian street over his threat to sever all ties with the US and Israel – it didn't happen. It's highly doubtful he managed to sway any hearts and minds by positing that "the immigrants from Ethiopia and Russia aren't Jews." It isn't even an original claim. I was reminded how his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, once tried convincing me, over an entire hour, that Israeli Jews of Middle Eastern descent are in fact Arabs, not Jews.
There are at least two reasons for the Palestinian public's apathy toward the plan of the century. One is their belief that the plan, despite what's been said about it, won't be implemented immediately. As long as routine daily life remains undisrupted, as long as over 60,000 work permits are granted each morning and the economic situation hasn't dramatically worsened – there's no reason to go out and clash with IDF soldiers. Unilateral steps on the ground, if they are taken – including annexation – could, of course, change the picture.
The other reason behind the general apathy is the growing alienation between the Palestinian public in the West Bank and the leadership in Ramallah, headed by Abbas. The leader, in the twilight of his rule, is perceived as irrelevant. On the one hand, everyone understands he won't accept any deal pushed across his desk because he wants to go down in history as someone who didn't give an inch, yet they don't believe he intends to completely sever ties with Israel – which would necessarily mean the PA's collapse.
It appears that White House officials have also come to terms with the fact that Abbas won't provide the goods. Kushner said in his interview in Egypt that Abbas "wants peace but maybe isn't capable" of delivering it, and in a rare remark, he said PA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat was almost entirely to blame for Palestinian rejectionism.
There's no question that Erekat, one of the closest people to Abbas' ear, views himself as one of the main players in the battle being waged behind the scenes in Ramallah over Abbas' succession. It remains to be seen whether he will be weakened or strengthened by Washington's harsh attack against him.
But Erekat isn't the only one vying for Abbas' chair, nor does he have the best chance necessarily. The most prominent name on the list of potential replacements – which also includes Abbas' deputy in the Fatah movement, Mahmoud al-Aloul, and Jibril Rajoub – is Maj. Gen. Majid Faraj, the head of the PA General Intelligence Services.
Faraj theoretically has three advantages over his competitors. He controls the security services, is personally close to Abbas, and is practically the only senior PA official who maintains close ties with the American administration, just in case anyone in Ramallah nevertheless feels like looking for Trump's phone number.
