Israel Matzav

Report: Even Obama knows that 'Abbas' doesn't want peace

A senior Israeli diplomatic official has told Israel Hayom that even President Obama recognizes that 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen has no interest in peace.

Since Obama visited Israel in March, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been trying to find a way to renew peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Kerry's efforts have led nowhere because neither side believes talks would continue after an opening summit.

At this point, the peace process is stalled because of Palestinian demands for a complete settlement freeze. In public statements that he made in Jerusalem and Ramallah, Obama rejected preconditions for the renewal of peace talks. Yet the Palestinians continue to insist on a number of preconditions, including, among others, the release of more than 100 terrorists imprisoned in Israel for attacks they committed before the signing of the Oslo Accords in the early 1990s.

Abbas is also demanding that Netanyahu present a map of the final borders of a Palestinian state. The Prime Minister's Office strongly rejects this demand, saying borders should be the last core issue discussed. Israeli officials believe Abbas is demanding a border map to spark internal controversy in Israel over settlements that would not remain inside the country.

The senior diplomatic official said that the relationship between Netanyahu and Obama was "very good." The official said Obama "opened a new page and during his recent trip to Israel proved that he came as a friend."

Some Israeli officials point to the upcoming 2014 U.S. Congressional elections as a reason for Obama's embrace of Israel. According to this line of thought, Obama wants to soften Congress so that it will not thwart his plans.

But the more dominant assessment among Israeli officials is that the Obama administration changed its tune toward Israel due to the consequences of the Arab Spring.

2014 is a much more likely explanation than the Arab spring. The Arab spring was in 2011 and Obama kept pressuring Israel for as long as he thought he could get away with it without ruining his reelection chances. Obama is hoping to regain a House majority, and that won't happen if he has to answer everywhere for pressuring Israel.

But the senior Israeli diplomatic official has Abu Mazen right.

The official said he believed that Abbas' policy was to "stay in place."

"Abbas saw that after the disengagement [Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip in 2005], despite the relative strength he had there with 35,000 fighters against the 4,000 of Hamas, Hamas expelled him," the official said. "In light of the events taking place in Arab countries in the Middle East, he does not want the same thing to happen in Judea and Samaria."

Abu Mazen is about keeping himself alive and staying in power. Always has been and always will be.

Labels: Abu Mazen, Arab spring, Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, direct talks, Middle East peace process, negotiations without preconditions, US elections

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:05 PM