As Gaza bleeds, Abbas controls fate of US plan
He fears ceasefire deal will deepen Hamas’ hold over coastal territory
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been sidelined, isolated and humiliated by the Trump administration. But the embattled Palestinian leader may have the final say in determining the fate of the White House’s long-awaited vision for Mideast peace.
In recent weeks, Abbas has thwarted a series of internationally backed initiatives aimed at rehabilitating the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. With Gaza expected to be the centrepiece of the US peace plan, Abbas has given himself a virtual veto over the expected American initiative. The deadlock over Gaza appears to be a key reason behind the repeated delays in unveiling the plan.
“The US is trying to use the humanitarian situation in Gaza as a tool to implement its plan,” said Mohammad Ishtayeh, a top Palestinian official. “We say that Gaza is an integral part of the Palestinian lands, and solving the problems of Gaza should be in the context of a broad political framework.”
However, the American refusal to work with Hamas has made it virtually impossible to move forward on the diplomatic front - a weakness that Abbas now appears to be exploiting.
Abbas has two main concerns. First, he fears that any interim ceasefire deal in Gaza will deepen Hamas’s control over the territory.
Second, after Trump’s recognition of occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his attacks on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Abbas fears the US is trying to remove sensitive issues from the negotiating agenda. For him, Gaza is the last obstacle preventing the US from forcing what he sees as an unacceptable plan on him.
“What is left for this administration to give to the Palestinian people? Humanitarian solutions?” Abbas said in an address to the UN General Assembly last week. Abbas says there can be no progress on the diplomatic front until he regains control of Gaza. Attempts to reconcile with Hamas have repeatedly failed, leaving the Palestinians divided between rival governments in the West Bank and Gaza.
As the officially recognised Palestinian representative, Abbas’ government continues to coordinate the movement of goods through Israeli-controlled crossings into Gaza. This has given him the ability to block large-scale projects, even when approved by the Israeli regime.
The Palestinian officials also said Abbas has relayed messages to the US through his Arab allies, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, that there can be no peace plan that excludes him from Gaza.
Abbas believes there can be no significant progress in Gaza without a reconciliation deal that brings him back to power in the territory. The talks have repeatedly broken down over Hamas’ refusal to disarm.
Last week, another set of Egyptian-brokered talks ended inconclusively, according to people close to the talks.
“Until yesterday, we did not reach any result worth mentioning,” said Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official in Gaza. He accused Abbas of taking “retaliatory” action against the people of Gaza.
Abbas has taken a series of measures against the territory, slashing the salaries of thousands of former government workers in Gaza and cutting fuel subsidies to pay for electricity, all in an effort to step up pressure on Hamas.