(Israel Hayom) Oded Granot - PA President Mahmoud Abbas has dug himself and his people a trench and put a wall up to stop them from negotiating with Israel. He has even refused to allow Palestinian representatives to meet delegates sent by President Trump. On Tuesday, Abbas refused to send delegates to an important meeting in Washington wholly devoted to the deteriorating economic situation in Gaza. Ostensibly, all this is because the U.S. has recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. One might think from all this that had Trump not recognized Jerusalem, the Palestinians were planning to sprint to the negotiating table and sit down seriously to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once and for all. There is no escaping the conclusion that Abbas, at 83 and in deteriorating health, would prefer to leave peacemaking and its headaches to his successor. This way, he will be written into history as one who did not surrender an inch of "Palestine." The writer headed the Middle East desk and was senior commentator at Israel Televison - Channel 1 (2001-2017).
2018-03-16 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive