By David Hacham
The historic Abraham Accords have exposed the profoundly weakened position in which the Palestinian Authority now finds itself.
Mahmoud Abbas is almost certainly hoping for the return of a U.S. Democratic Administration, one he believes will turn back the clock on several recent US policies regarding the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Barely any ties remain between Mahmoud Abbas and the Trump Administration. Relations are at their lowest point since the start of the Oslo peace process.
Spawning that deterioration is a series of US decisions that constitute a major departure from long held American positions toward the Palestinians.
Attempting to convey the PA’s ability to implement unified, decisive positions in the face of U.S. treatment it views as unfair; Abbas has abandoned any pretense of cordial relations with America and he has ramped up his condemnation of what he views as Trump's unbalanced positions and bias. His audiences are the Palestinian street, the Arab world, and to the international community.
It’s worth recalling what led to this breakdown.
Following his election, the American president delayed his response to Abbas’s request for a congratulatory phone call. That conversation, which took place some ten days after the request was made, was interpreted as a clear attempt by Trump to downgrade Abbas's status.
The appointment of David Friedman as the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, in May 2017, was seen as a provocative and offensive maneuver. Friedman, who was on record as holding explicitly right-wing positions, including enthusiastic support for Israeli development in the West Bank, was viewed as highly problematic by the P.A.
Later, in December of the same year, the Americans recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital; a declaration swiftly followed by the deed of officially opening a U.S. embassy there.
Also in 2017, the Trump Administration closed the PLO office in Washington D.C. in an attempt to force the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, and to punish them for - and to deter them from - submitting complaints against Israel at the Hague.
The immediate Palestinian response was to submit a new complaint to the Hague, opposing Israel's decision to clear the village of Khan Al-Ahmar in the West Bank.
The January 2020 'Deal of the Century' was dismissed by Abbas as an unfair and hostile blueprint.
The passage of the Taylor Force Act of March 2018, which halts funding to the PA while it continues to pay monthly stipends to convicted terrorists and the families of killed terrorists, further angered Abbas. In 2018 alone, the PA paid 360 million dollars to terrorists or their families – 7% of the P.A.’s budget.
The US, which was the principal funder of UNRWA, paying $ 1.1 billion annually (a third of UNRWA’s yearly budget), also withdrew funding to the organization in 2018.
These measures have ruptured both diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the Palestinians and the security-intelligence cooperation between the P.A., the U.S. and Israel.
In October 2018, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. General Consulate would merge with the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, and that the U.S. would manage relations with the Palestinians through a Special Palestinian Affairs Unit. The P.A.’s policy has been to avoid any cooperation with the new unit.
That cooperation, led by the PA’s head of the General Intelligence Services, Maj. Gen. Majed Faraj, on the Palestinian side, was suspended by the PA in May 2020, in protest of Israeli plans to apply sovereignty in the Jordan Valley.
Even the official contacts between the PA and the CIA, which had managed to weather the crisis, were suspended a number of weeks ago.
Ultimately, the P.A.’s decision to cut off ties with a superpower like the U.S. was counterproductive. It only served to weaken the P.A.’s status in America’s eyes.
The Palestinians have thus adopted a waiting position ahead of the US presidential elections this coming November. Their hope is that a Biden Administration will bring an end what the PA views as four nightmarish years for the Palestinian cause.
But when viewed for what they are; the withholding of funding for terrorist stipends, including terrorists who have murdered U.S. citizens, the opening of a U.S. embassy to Israel in the Israeli capital and the defunding of UNRWA; any future U.S. administration will be hard pressed to reverse course. Gambling that they will do so may prove to be a mistake. The P.A. would be better served by coming out of its defensive crouch and starting to progress toward reconciliation with Israel and America.
David Hacham served for 30 years in IDF intelligence, is a former Commander of Coordination of Govt. Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and was advisor for Arab Affairs to seven Israeli Ministers of Defense.