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Abbas' Intifada: Isolating Israel and Unilateral Steps

(Hudson Institute-New York) Khaled Abu Toameh - Palestinian President Abbas has reached the same conclusion as his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, that he will not get all of what he wants from Israel at the negotiating table, so he has instead decided to take the battle to the international arena. To convince the U.S. and the Europeans to support their unilateral declaration of statehood, Abbas and Fayyad have chosen to embarrass and isolate Israel through a diplomatic uprising, designed to force Israel to submit to all Palestinian demands. First, they are seeking to convince countries to back PA efforts to press war crimes charges against Israeli political and military leaders. Second, the PA is making huge efforts to have the UN Security Council condemn settlements as illegal. Third, Abbas and Fayyad have been working hard to persuade countries to declare their recognition of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 lines, with east Jerusalem as its capital. When Arafat reached the conclusion that he would never get what he wanted from Israel through negotiations, he resorted to violence, unleashing the "second intifada" in September 2000. His successor, Mahmoud Abbas, knows that the violence has been counterproductive and has caused the Palestinians huge damage. So he has chosen a different approach, a diplomatic offensive, ultimately aimed at circumventing the Oslo Accords by winning the international community's recognition of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 lines.
2011-02-18 00:00:00
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