The resignation of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas revealed another round of ramifications, this time potentially destroying the entire Palestinian leadership in the West Bank or, conversely, reigniting the peace process. (see my previous post on other issues involved regarding the Abbas resignation.)
Abbas’ threatened resignation may actually serve to resolve the same issues that originally pushed him into retirement- the crumbling of the peace process. In response to Abbas’ threat, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu used the strongest language yet on curbing settlement activity and resuming negotations with the Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu said:
“No Israeli government has been so willing to restrain settlement activity as part of an effort to relaunch peace talks…let us seize the moment, let us relaunch peace talks immediately…”
“My goal is not negotiations for the sake of negotiations. My goal is to achieve a permanent peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians – and soon. “
Abbas even fielded a phone call from Kadima leader and former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, an event that marks the first extremely high-level, unchaperoned talks between the two sides in a long time.
One of the biggest concerns for Palestinians and the rest of the world alike is the potential political vacuum caused by Abbas’ resignation. The entire Palestinian Authority could come crashing down with senior officials taking Abbas’ lead and leaving the government.
Abbas’ spokesman said:
“The current political vacuum which resulted from the failure of the peace process will soon be filled with violence leading to a serious shake up in the security of the whole region…”
“To avoid this, the US administration should immediately start exerting pressure on the government of Israel and make them comply with their share of the peace process.”
The New York Times ran an in-depth article today that cites multiple Palestinian sources that fear other leaders will follow suit and resign from the government. Long-time Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said:
“I think he is realizing that he came all this way with the peace process in order to create a Palestinian state, but he sees no state coming,” Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian peace negotiator, said in an interview. “So he really doesn’t think there is a need to be president or to have an Authority. This is not about who is going to replace him. This is about our leaving our posts. You think anybody will stay after he leaves?”
Regardless of all the talk from Israel on curbing settlements and the fear within the Palestinian Authority of a leadership vacuum, Abbas still criticized Israel for failing to negotiate. Abbas said:
“”It appears they do not want peace, and they don’t want to stop settlement, and they don’t want the vision of two-states, so I don’t know what they want.”
He said that the former Israeli government, under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, actually almost led to a viable peace process. He said:
“We sat and negotiated with the Israelis over drawing borders and we negotiated these borders with Olmert and Livni…”
“We accepted international legitimacy and we accepted the international law and we accepted the roadmap and we offered all commitments and we honored all the commitments that came in the roadmap and achieved a lot in terms of security and economic stability.”
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
