In rebuff to Obama, Abbas says he will send ultimatum to Israel

[dayag]

Dismantling the P.A. will not accomplish anything useful for the Palestinians. Abbas is making yet another mistake.

U.S. President Barack Obama telephoned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday to try to persuade him to withdraw or soften the ultimatum he intends to send to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This was the first conversation between the two since their relations soured half a year ago.

But Haaretz has learned that Abbas did not assent to the American president's request, vowing to deliver the letter to Netanyahu in the coming days.

Both a senior Palestinian official and a Western diplomat briefed about the conversation said that Obama emphasized his continued commitment to the peace process and the establishment of a Palestinian state, insisting he was just as committed now as he was on his first day in the White House. He told Abbas that at his White House meeting with Netanyahu two weeks ago, the two discussed the peace process at length, including the progress of the Israeli-Palestinian talks held in Amman under Jordanian auspices.

He therefore urged Abbas not to incorporate a threat to dismantle the Palestinian Authority in the letter.

But Abbas responded that he intends to send Netanyahu the letter in the next few days. In it, he will blame Israel for the impasse in the peace process and stress that "the current situation cannot continue."...

A senior Palestinian official told Haaretz that following this discussion with Obama, the PA president is determined to deliver the ultimatum to Netanyahu in the next few days. A senior Israeli official who deals with Palestinian issues said it is unlikely that international pressure will prevent Abbas from sending the letter, but it might persuade him to soften his language and excise the threat of dismantling the PA....

source: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition...srael-1.419622

[Pleepleus]

The reason Abbas is throwing a temper tantrum is because he isn't getting enough attention:

Talks between the Israelis and Palestinians have been overshadowed by the debate between Israel and Washington over a possible military strike on Iran due to Tehran's nuclear program.

The Palestinians have struggled to make their voice heard in recent months as world attention has shifted to the US presidential elections, the escalating violence in Syria and Iran's nuclear program.

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=262557

[Aliyah1995]

This gives me a good idea: instead of trading "land for peace", why don't we offer the Palestinians attention in exchange for being ignored. After all, they want attention and we just want the world to focus on anything but us. Maybe they will go for it

[dayag]

Abbas punks out. Big surprise!

Foreign diplomats said President Mahmoud Abbas has dropped a planned threat to dismantle his autonomy government to protest the deadlock in peace efforts with Israel.

Abbas had been planning to deliver the threat in a letter to Israel. But, according to a copy of the letter obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, the language has been dropped from the text.

The diplomats who provided the letter said Abbas scrapped the threat at the urging of President Barack Obama...

source: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...210051,00.html

[Kachah]

And this is just another example of the great success of Obama's policies!

[Pleepleus]

And this is just another example of the great success of Obama's policies!

Actually it is. Neither Israel nor the United States want to see the P.A. dismantled.

[Pleepleus]

I think there were no fireworks in this letter because Abbas' earlier tantrums didn't yield any positive results with the Quartet.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a letter from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday, detailing the PA's demands regarding the resumption of Middle East peace talks...

According to sources, the meeting lasted 80 minutes, during which the premier went over the letter's five pages, written in English.

A preliminary inspection of its content indicated that it did not include any new messages, but that it also did not spell out explicit threats to disassemble the PA.

The sides agreed that Molho will arrive in Ramallah in two weeks time in order to pass Israel's written response to the missive to Abbas.

In addition, at the end of Tuesday's meeting, the two sides published a joint announcement, according to which "Israel and the Palestinian Authority are committed to achieving peace."

"Both sides hope that the exchange of letters will help find the way to promote peace," the statement said...

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomac...nyahu-1.424905

[dayag]

Another example of Abbas acting like a spoiled child:

There has been a break between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, after Fayyad refused to deliver a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on behalf of Abbas last Tuesday, sources informed London-based Al Quds Al-Arabi on Monday.

The sources said that a "silent crisis" has grown between the two, especially after Abbas has ignored recent attempts by Fayyad to discuss a reshuffling of the cabinet, an important issue which has been floated as a possibility and had been a matter that the two were to have discussed.

According to the report, Abbas is refusing to answer Fayyad's telephone calls and other attempts to reach him to move forward with coordinating on the above cabinet issue....

source: http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPol...aspx?id=267169

Maybe Abbas is cranky because his nappy needs changing. Perhaps he should be given a spanking and made to stand in the corner until he is ready to make peace with Israel.

[dayag]

Same old song. Abbas refuses to negotiate without more arms, released terrorists, and freezing settlement activity but claims it is wrong to call these preconditions. Israel, of course, is ready to negotiate immediately without preconditions.

PARIS - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Friday he was ready to hold dialogue with Israel if it freed prisoners and re-armed his police, but there could be no full peace talks without a freeze on West Bank settlements.

"We recently told them that if Israel accepted to free prisoners and allow us to re-arm the police then we would again sit at the same table as [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu," Abbas said.

"If Mr Netanyahu agrees ... then we will establish a dialogue, but that doesn't mean a negotiation," Abbas told reporters during a visit to Paris.

Israel has in the past released prisoners from Abbas's Fatah faction in what it described as goodwill gestures toward the Palestinians. The Israelis also regularly coordinate with Abbas's security forces in the West Bank and have a say on the degree to which they are armed and deployed.

The Palestinian leader reiterated his insistence on a total freeze on settlements, which most world powers consider illegal, saying it was wrong to describe this as a "precondition".

Responding to Abbas's remarks, Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev said in Jerusalem: "Israel remains ready for the immediate resumption of peace talks without any preconditions."...

source: http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPol...aspx?id=273199

[dayag]

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas warned on Friday that he may seek non-member status for a Palestinian state at the United Nations if peace talks with Israel do not resume, The Associated Press reported.

The PA currently has observer status at the UN and an upgrade by the General Assembly to “non-member” would give Palestine recognition as a “state”. This could open the way for PA Arabs to take legal action against Israelis through the International Criminal Court...

source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Ne...3#.T9JvspV0gfw

[NewsGuy]

Just more proof that the Palestinians are not -- and have never been -- interested in peace. The only goal the Palestinians ever had is the total destruction of the State of Israel. Never peace...