Abbas is terribly out of touch with reality

It’s time for Palestinians to choose new leaders with fresh solutions and plans to advance their cause

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been under growing internal pressure over his administration’s crippling sanctions on Gaza that are aimed at pressuring Hamas. While he faces extreme pressure himself and has limited options, the Palestinians people are not so understanding.

For the first time in a long time, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, Abbas’ stronghold, held weeklong demonstrations critical of the Palestinian National Authority’s draconian tactics aimed at squeezing Gaza, which is already reeling under a crippling Israeli siege in place since 2007.

Unemployment is at 40 per cent and around 70 per cent of Palestinians in Gaza rely on humanitarian aid to get by.

Attempts at reconciliation between Hamas, which currently rules Gaza and Fatah, and Abbas’ party have failed to make significant progress — with both sides blaming the other for the standstill.

But it seems Abbas’ popularity is at an all-time low following US President Donald Trump’s decision to move the US embassy to Tel Aviv earlier this year, in a provocative and unprecedented move.

All Abbas was able to do was issue condemnations and walk away from peace talks.

It will only be a matter of the time before the Palestinian people’s frustration erupts into a violent confrontation with Israel. In Gaza, where the pressure is most felt, weekly protests since March have been an indicator of just how desperate Palestinians are to display any semblance of resistance against Israel.

Unarmed demonstrators protesting their right to return to lands seized by Israel in 1948 were shot dead by Israeli snipers on the border, with Israel killing more than 120 Palestinians and injuring thousands.

The World Bank and the United Nations have repeatedly warned that Gaza is a powder keg just waiting to explode.

What Abbas may forget is the Palestinian people are one, whether living in Gaza or the West Bank, and the pain felt by Gazans is felt deeply by their brethren just kilometres away.

He has been unable to make any progress in peace talks, which could largely be due to Trump’s hardline stance favouring Israel.

But Abbas also bears responsibility for his lacklustre leadership and his stubborn retention of the Palestinian old guard.

It’s time for Palestinians to choose new leaders with fresh solutions and plans, who can advance the Palestinian cause and take their dream of statehood forward.

As time goes on, that goal seems to be disappearing faster and faster into the background, which is exactly was Israel wants.