Who said that Palestinians have no respect for Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab countries? They do.
Palestinians have respect for the money of their Arab brethren. The respect they lack is for the heads of the Arab states, and the regimes and royal families there.
It is important to take this into consideration in light of the growing talk about Saudi Arabia's effort to help the Trump Administration market a comprehensive peace plan for the Middle East, the details of which remain intriguingly mysterious.
Last week, the Saudis unexpectedly summoned Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas to Riyadh for talks on Trump's "ultimate solution" for the Israeli-Arab conflict, reportedly being promoted by Jared Kushner.
According to unconfirmed reports, the Saudis pressured Abbas to endorse the Trump Administration's "peace plan." Abbas was reportedly told that he had no choice but to accept the plan or resign. At this stage, it remains unclear how Abbas responded to the Saudi "ultimatum."
If true, the Saudi "ultimatum" to Abbas is tantamount to asking him to sign his death warrant. Abbas cannot afford to be seen by his people as being in collusion with an American "peace plan" that does not comply completely with their demands.
Abbas has repeatedly made it clear that he will not accept anything less than a sovereign Palestinian state on all the pre-1967 lands, including east Jerusalem. He has also emphasized that the Palestinians will never give up the "right of return" for millions of "refugees" to their former homes inside Israel. Moreover, Abbas has clarified that the Palestinians will not accept the presence of any Israeli in their future Palestinian state.
Abbas has done his dirty work well. He knows that he cannot come back to his people with anything less than what he promised them. He knows that his people have been radicalized to the point that they will not agree to any concessions or compromise with Israel.
And who is responsible for this radicalization? Abbas and other Palestinian leaders, who continue unendingly to tell their people through the media, discourse and mosques that any concession to Israel constitutes treason, pure and simple.
So it would be na�ve to think that Saudi Arabia or any other Arab country would be able to strong-arm any Palestinian leader to accept a "peace plan" that requires the Palestinians to make concessions to Israel. Abbas may have much respect for the ambitious and savvy young crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. This respect, however, certainly stops at the border of the political suicide - and extreme personal risk -- from Abbas's point of view.
Abbas is now caught between two choices, both disastrous: On the one hand, he needs the political backing of his Arab brothers. This is the most he can expect from the Arab countries, most of whom do not give the Palestinians a penny.
It is worth noting that, by and large, the Arab countries discarded the Palestinians after the PLO and Yasser Arafat openly supported Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Kuwait was one of several Gulf countries that used to provide the Palestinians with billions of dollars a year. No more.
Since then, the Palestinians have been almost entirely dependent on American and European financial aid. It is safe to assume, then, that the US and EU have more leverage with the Palestinians than most Arab countries.
Nevertheless, no American or European on the face of this Earth could force a Palestinian leader to sign a peace treaty with Israel that would be rejected by an overwhelming majority of his people.
Trump's "ultimate solution" may result in some Arab countries signing peace treaties with Israel. These countries anyway have no real conflict with Israel. Why should there not be peace between Israel and Kuwait? Why should there not be peace between Israel and Oman? Do any of the Arab countries have a territorial dispute with Israel? The only "problem" the Arab countries have with Israel is the one concerning the Palestinians.
For now, it appears that the vast majority of Arab regimes no longer care about the Palestinians and their leaders. The Palestinians despise the Arab leaders as much as they despise each other. It is a mutual feeling. The Palestinians particularly despise any Arab leader who is aligned with the US.
They do not consider the US an honest broker in the Israeli-Arab conflict. The Palestinians, in fact, view the US as being "biased" in favor of Israel, regardless of whether the man sitting in the Oval Office is a Democrat or Republican.
The Saudi crown prince is viewed by Palestinians as a US ally. His close relations with Jared Kushner are seen with suspicion not only by Palestinians, but by many other Arabs as well. Palestinian political analysts such as Faisal Abu Khadra believe that the Palestinian leadership should prepare itself to face the "mysterious" Trump "peace plan." They are skeptical that the plan would meet the demands of the Palestinians.
The Palestinians appear to be united in rejecting the Trump Administration's effort to "impose" a solution on them. They are convinced that the Americans, with the help of Saudi Arabia and some Arab countries, are working towards "liquidating" the Palestinian cause. Abbas and his rivals in Hamas now find themselves dreading the US administration's "peace plan."
Like lemmings drawn to the sea, the Palestinians seem to be marching towards yet another scenario where they "never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity." The question remains: how will the Saudis and the rest of the international community respond to ongoing Palestinian rejectionism and intransigence?
We Will Back One State for All People If 'Endangered' Two-State Solution Fails - by Deborah Danan -
Palestinians may revert to endorsing a one-state solution for Arabs and Jews - a scenario that would mean the end of the Jewish state - if the now "endangered" so-called two-state solution fails, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday.
"The two-state solution is now in real danger," Abbas said in a pre-recorded speech broadcast in Gaza for the commemoration of the death of PLO leader Yasser Arafat. "We will demand equal rights for the people of historic Palestine if a two-state solution is not implemented."
Abbas added that if a two-state solution is impossible, the PA would support a "one-state solution" with "full equality of rights for all its citizens."
Abbas, who heads the Fatah party, also said his faction was working hard to implement the recently signed reconciliation deal with rival Gaza-based terror group Hamas in order to achieve Arafat's "dream... for freedom, sovereignty and independence on our Palestinian national soil."
"There is no state in Gaza and there is no state without Gaza," he said, adding that a unity government will "ease the suffering and revive hope of a better future for all of us."
Abbas also took the opportunity to once again slam the UK for the 100-year-old Balfour Declaration, which promised Palestine as a national home for the Jewish people, saying it was an attempt to erase Palestinian history.
He added that despite the UK's attempts to suppress it, "Palestine" survived thanks to the martyrs who had given their lives or been imprisoned for fighting for their country and carrying out terror "operations" against Israel.
He continued by saying that the PA "maintains the culture of peace and fights terrorism in the region and the world."
Saturday's event was the first memorial for Arafat since the Hamas takeover in 2007.
Arafat, who even today is largely revered by the Palestinian public, is viewed by Israel as an unrepentant terrorist who both scuttled the 2000 Camp David peace talks and subsequently launched a five-year Intifada with more than 150 suicide bombings. Many Palestinians maintain the belief that Israel poisoned Arafat, who died in 2004 in a French military hospital. In a 2007 interview with Arafat's personal physician Dr. al-Kurdi, claimed stated that the HIV virus was identified in Arafat's blood.
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