Why Abbas Will Never Make Peace With Israel

[Mosby]

What are the chances that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would ever sign a peace agreement with Israel?

The answer: zero.

Abbas, who is in his late 70s, has been in power since 2005 even though his term in office formally ended in January 2009.

If Abbas did not sign a peace agreement with Israel when he was a legitimate president during his earlier four-year term in office, he is most unlikely to strike any deal with Israel now that he does not have a mandate from his people.

If he wished, Abbas could have reached a deal with the governments of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. But Abbas, like his predecessor Yasser Arafat, chose to turn down a generous offer that could have seen Israel relinquish control over most of the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Abbas is not interested in reaching any deal with Israel: he knows that such a move would require him to make concessions. Abbas knows that Israel will never give him 100% of his demands; that is enough for him to refuse to sign any historic agreement.

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3159/abbas-peace

[TheWraith]

1. Oh, such bullshit.

Gosh, it's so horribly unreasonable for him to expect them to actually live up to the previous agreements they've made and not keep moving the border with illegal settlements and land grabs. Yeah, that's just so damned horrible of him. After all, it's not like those actions are universally considered illegal under international law--oh wait, they are. Whoops. And since the Israelis have shown absolutely no intention of stopping their slow-motion push across the border, what the hell does that say about their negotiation in good faith?

[Scootaloo]

2. Wait wait wait...

Remember! A Netanyahu-appointed panel found that the actions of the Netanyahu government's Netanyahu-led plan to snatch land for Netanyahu's Settler friends actually isn't illegal, remember?

And I think the Netanyahu panel appointed by Netanyahu knows whether or not Netanyahu's government is doing Netanyahu illegal Netanyahu things.

*Cough* Holy shit, that's what it feels like to read a Giuliani speech, I guess.

[joelz]

3. I think Israel only has to

recognize that the International Court of Justice has already ruled that all of Israel’s West Bank settlements are illegal and honor the ruling peace will come relatively soon. much easier than maintaining an apartheid government and all the brutality that goes with it.

[Bradlad]

4. Kind of like . .

Kind of like the way peace immediately flowered in Gaza after Israel removed all Israel civilians and military from the area. I can't imagine why Israel doesn't just do the "right thing" again so the Palestinians can freely shoot rockets from the WB mountains overlooking all of Israel's main population and industrial centers.

[AnOhioan]

5. Why Netanyahu will never make peace with Palestine....

Why make peace when you can just steal the good land and create a ghetto with the rest.

[holdencaufield]

6. Abbas won't make peace...

...because he (and the PA) would lose power if he made peace. The PA and Hamas' entire raison d'etre is armed struggle. If they actually had to get down to the everyday business of running a country they would lose their stranglehold on their people.

It's easy to placate your citizens if you can blame all their woes on the "Zionist Entity". If people complain, they are labeled Israeli collaborators and we all know what happens to them. But, if they lost the Hebraic scapegoat, they would actually be accountable for the mundane things like issuing building permits, creating infrastructure, picking up the garbage, and the other boring jobs that make up the running of a government at peace without being able to blame someone else for their failures.

No, the only way they can keep their power and be assured a steady stream of aid dollars is keep up the fight.