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Sunni Arabs Can't Accept U.S. Peace Plan without Palestinian OK
(Jerusalem Post) Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Amos Gilead interviewed by Herb Keinon - Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Amos Gilead, former director of the Israel Defense Ministry's Policy and Political-Military Affairs Bureau (2003-2017), advises Americans not to roll out their peace plan unless they are sure that the Arab world will not reject it. And the chances of the Arab states accepting a plan that will be turned down by the Palestinians - which they have already said they will do - are almost nil. If the Palestinians and Arab states reject the plan, then that means "There is no hope, no political horizon, and that will only lead to frustration," Gilead said. It would be very destabilizing because it would show clearly that there is no peace option. Gilead said that PA President Mahmoud Abbas' "strength is in his weakness. He can't compete against Israel, but he can say to the Arab states, 'Don't you dare recognize the Trump plan'." And they won't, he said, because to do so would be seen as a form of treason to the Arab cause. Gilead dismissed as an "illusion" thinking that the Arab world would make peace or normalize ties with Israel without an agreement with the Palestinians. "The [Arab] public is not in favor of it, and the [leaders] are worried that if they do it, it will shake their stability." He added that the security and intelligence cooperation between Israel and the Sunni Arab states is both strong and welcome, but "it is not stable and could change."