What prez should tell Abbas
BECAUSE President Trump is a man in a hurry, here’s how he can save time today when he welcomes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the White House. After the briefest of pleasantries, Trump can say, “Mr. Abbas, your people should be preparing to celebrate the 17th anniversary of the creation of their own state. But Yasser Arafat foolishly refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist at Camp David in 2000, so there was no deal, and history marched on without a Palestinian state.
“That was a mistake you can rectify right here, right now,” Trump continues. “I ask you, President Abbas, are you ready to recognize Israel as the Jewish homeland, renounce violence against it and negotiate peaceful, secure borders for two states?”
It is a yes-or-no question. If Abbas won’t say yes, the answer is no — and there is nothing more to discuss. Trump can spend his windfall of free time on issues more likely to bring results.
It has been said that hope is a good breakfast but a poor supper, and it is very late in the day to hope that Abbas will be something he has never been. Now 82, in the 12th year of the four-year term he was elected to in 2005, Abbas has not been honest about his endgame.
Sure, he wants a Palestinian state — as long as it gets handed to him by the United Nations or Washington. If getting one means recognizing Israel and making fundamental concessions, he’ll pass.
He’ll pass in part for the same reason Arafat could never get to yes: Signing his name to a deal that accepts Israel’s right to exist could be signing his own death warrant. Jew hatred is a powerful force in Palestinian politics and culture, and it is enforced ruthlessly by the gun.
In that sense, little has changed since Arafat walked away from the offer made by Israel and brokered by Bill Clinton 17 years ago. The only difference is that time and developments, including some Israeli settlements, have weakened the Palestinian negotiating position.
The rise of Islamic State, Hamas’ control of the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah’s growing strength in Lebanon and the endless Syrian civil war have combined to surround Israel with more powerful enemies bent on its destruction. Having voluntarily ceded Gaza and parts of southern Lebanon, only to get attacked on both borders, Israel will not make the same mistake a third time in the West Bank.
Hopefully, Trump also understands that Barack Obama actually hardened the Palestinian-Israeli divide. Obama took office with the misguided idea that putting daylight between the US and Israel would make a deal more likely and bring peace to the whole region. Fueled by the left’s catechism that Israel is the problem, Obama’s theory was that the Palestinians would trust him enough to make concessions, and that Israel would be frightened into making a deal knowing the terms would only get worse. He also thought a Palestinian-Israeli deal would magically resolve other conflicts. Obama was wrong on all counts. Spectacularly so. Even worse, his Iran deal gave the mad mullahs $150 billion and the green light to fund armed aggression throughout the Mideast. Iran’s continuing threats to wipe Israel off the map captures the insanity of Obama’s kumbaya fantasies. Israel’s reaction to all the mayhem is both sensible and predictable: It will make no deal that will bring more lethal forms of terrorism into the West Bank.
Indeed, during the last war with Hamas in Gaza amid the rise of Islamic State, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that he could not foresee Israel withdrawing its security forces from the West Bank, lest it become a larger Gaza, with terror tunnels honeycombing most of Israel.
The changing dynamics have made Abbas something of a bit player and reduced his leverage. Hamas smells its rival’s weakness, which is why it is trying to soften its image without giving up its founding vow to eliminate Israel.
Although those harsh realities should convince Trump of the limits of American involvement, there is one thing he can and should do: hold Abbas accountable for attacks against Israelis and public incitement of terrorism.
The Palestinian government, which counts on foreign aid for virtually all of its money, pays salaries to prisoners convicted of murder and other crimes and makes payments to the families of Arab “martyrs” who died in terror attacks.
Trump can tell Abbas that America’s contribution, which the Times of Israel says amounted to $712 million last year, will be reduced every time there is a stabbing, a vehicle attack or a shooting by a Palestinian. Ditto for rewarding terrorists’ families and celebrating attackers by naming public buildings and plazas after them — all of it must stop immediately. If nothing else, Abbas would be shocked into realizing he’s no longer dealing with Obama or George W. Bush. That alone would be worth the few minutes it would take Trump to deliver the message that, this time, America really does have Israel’s back.