Why Mahmoud Abbas must seize his chance,
▶ After Trump’s backing for Israel, Palestinians need their leader to deliver
There is an unmistakable mood of anger and alienation within the Palestinian leadership caused by US policies HUGH LOVATT European Council of Foreign Relations
Two years ago, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the United Nations General Assembly to make 2017 the year to end the Israeli occupation. But as he prepares to take the stage again this week, the Palestinian position is weaker than ever.
Since that speech, an American president has entered the Oval Office who officials in Ramallah view as the most pro-Israeli leader they have yet encountered and a man who further undercut Palestinian dreams of statehood. US President Donald Trump embarked on what he called a push to seal the “ultimate deal” – an agreement to end the decades-long conflict – but the Palestinians have regarded his moves from January 2017 onwards as the ultimate betrayal.
No US peace plan has been announced, despite the White House saying it has been working intensively on one for the past 20 months. The US embassy is now in West Jerusalem. Israeli settlement building continues in the occupied West Bank, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees now receives zero American funding, leaving it in crisis, and all public diplomatic contact between Washington and Ramallah has been severed.
The Palestinians are relying on the international community to help, but little is being done to stop unilateral American moves in favour of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rightwing government. That is why Mr Abbas’s speech at the UN General Assembly this week should be the most important of his political career – but it probably will not be.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation confirmed to The National that Mr Abbas will attend despite recent health problems. In his speech on
Thursday, he is expected to rail against Washington, reiterating the need for an alternative peace plan to what the Palestinians believe the US is putting together.
But he will return to Ramallah for a meeting of the Palestinian National Council, the PLO’s legislative body, after the speech, where any response to the US will be decided upon. It means that few concrete steps will be announced in his UN address.
“You are not going to see many surprises, to be honest with you, but it’s going to be a very strong statement,” a Palestinian official told The National.
The official noted that the content of Mr Abbas’s address could still change because “the last touches are made in New York a few hours before the speech”.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al Malki told the Maan news agency that Mr Abbas’s outline would be similar to the proposals he put before the UN in February, where he advocated an “international coalition” to replace the US as the main broker in the conflict.
A provisional outline of what the PLO response will be to US and Israeli actions, seen by
The National, confirms what Mr Al Malki says.
The standout decision is that the State of Palestine will join 22 special UN agencies that they had previously ruled out joining because of US opposition. The Palestinian official said Ramallah previously “had a dialogue” with the Barack Obama government so were “not in the business of surprising anyone” in Washington.
“With this administration there is no engagement, there is nothing.
“There is no incentive not to go to a particular organisation,” the official said, confirming Palestinian plans to seek full membership of groups such as the World Intellectual Property Organisation and the International Telecommunication Union.
Mr Abbas is also likely to declare that the Palestinians are no longer bound to the Oslo Accords signed in 1993, introducing measures that could range from suspending security co-operation with Israel to ending recognition of the West Bank’s division into areas A, B and C.
His speech will also call for greater UN protection for Palestinian civilians, repeat the demand for an international conference on the conflict and change the Palestinian Authority’s name to “the State of Palestine under occupation”.
Mr Trump and his team of advisers – son-in-law Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt – appear to have tried to remove the issues of Jerusalem and the Palestinian right of return.
There is little in the planned Palestinian response about these two issues. But the Palestinian leadership is determined that any solution to the conflict requires that East Jerusalem must be the capital of a Palestinian state, Israeli settlements are defined as illegal and the issue of refugees displaced by the creation of Israel in 1948 must be resolved.
To that end, it has cut all ties with Washington and said the US can no longer be an impartial broker in the conflict.
A day before his speech, Mr Abbas invited Middle East envoys, foreign ministers and UN diplomats – about 30 dignitaries in total – to a meeting on the sidelines of the General Assembly. He did not invite any American representatives.
The meeting is an attempt to rally international figures around the Palestinian position as Ramallah’s crisis continues. The Palestinian Ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said it will address the “radical shift” in US policy towards the Palestinians.
Observers say that many of the moves the Palestinians could announce at the assembly have been heard before.
Hugh Lovatt of the European Council of Foreign Relations said, “Any announcements should of course be taken with a grain of salt. Much of the plan outlined has been threatened before, including in past General Assembly speeches, and never carried out.”
“That said, it would be wrong to entirely dismiss the putative plan. While much of this may prove merely symbolic for now, there is an unmistakable mood of anger and alienation within the Palestinian leadership caused by US policies, which is pushing them towards more disruptive strategies.”
The Palestinian leader has the annual disadvantage of speaking before Mr Netanyahu, who will have the chance to strike back during his address. The Israeli leader’s speeches are usually dramatic affairs that generate headlines around the world.
But Mr Abbas now has the ammunition to muster a verbal body blow on the biggest stage before his Israeli rival has even uttered a word. What that will be, and whether he delivers it or not, remains to be seen.
But as far as the millions of Palestinians living under an Israeli occupation with US backing are concerned, he has nothing to lose.