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Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/diplomatic-fantasies-at-the-council-on-foreign-relations-650412
Palestinian Leadership Continues Extreme Position Against Peace
(Jerusalem Post) Amb. Dore Gold - Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh appeared on Nov. 17 at the Council on Foreign Relations in a disappointing display of the same old rhetoric that led the Palestinian leadership to its current quagmire. When asked by the moderator, Richard Engel of NBC News, about the situation of the Palestinians today, Shtayyeh chose to begin with an attack on Arab states for their relations with Israel. Shtayyeh wants the Palestinians to continue to hold their past veto power over the Arab world. Essentially, he wants the Arabs to be Iranians, who supply Palestinian organizations like Hamas with weapons and money while taking the most extreme positions against peace. It is possible to identify at least six separate occasions since Camp David when the Palestinian leadership turned down offers to make peace. In the last episode in 2014, then-Secretary of State John Kerry worked tirelessly to advance yet another American peace plan. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yes to peace. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas just walked away. Asked by President Barack Obama in the Oval Office if he accepted Secretary Kerry's plan, he just replied, "I'll get back to you." But he never did. When new people are coming to Washington to take over in January, Shtayyeh is probably hoping that selective reinterpretations of the Middle East peace process can be used to the Palestinians' advantage. The writer, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, is former director general of Israel's Foreign Ministry and Israeli Ambassador to the UN.