PA leader appears poised to cut the $96 million he sends monthly to the Hamas-run Strip, which would almost certainly plunge the coastal enclave into fighting
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas arrives at the United Nations on September 25, 2018, in New York City. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images/AFP)
Hamas parliamentarians convened in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday and announced breathlessly that Mahmoud Abbas’s presidency was unlawful.
Arab media quoted the lawmakers as saying that the Palestinian Authority leader “no longer represents the Palestinian people.”
This not a surprising statement given the organizational affiliation of the speakers, as Hamas and Abbas’s Fatah party have long been at odds.
Nevertheless, the remarks underlined Abbas’s complex political situation on the eve of his speech at the UN General Assembly: It appears that Abbas has hit rock bottom, and it is doubtful he can make a comeback.
The PA president is suffering from an unprecedented dip in support in West Bank and Gaza public opinion polls, and is blamed by Gazans for the Strip’s humanitarian decline. Israel is not ready to engage in any dialogue with him, but at the same time expects him to accept responsibility for the Hamas-run coastal enclave.
It is possible that all this will lead to a radical UN speech by Abbas, which the PA leader has proven capable of delivering in the past.
He may well attack those who have cornered him: the US, Israel, and probably Hamas.
He will accuse Israel of not honoring the Oslo Accords, and may announce that the Palestinians will be reexamining their agreements with the Jewish state.
But the bigger question is whether he will make the dramatic decision to cease the PA’s transfer of funds to the Gaza Strip.
His associates have hinted at this more than once, signaling it could happen at the beginning of October. It is possible, of course, that such a decision is only a threat and could be postponed indefinitely. But if it is carried out, it could be painful for Israel, not to mention fatal for US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
A precarious situation in Gaza
The United Nations envoy to the Middle East, Nickolay Mladenov, warned Wednesday that Israel and Hamas are on the verge of a new war in Gaza.
A Palestinian official in the Strip told The Times of Israel this week that for the residents of the coastal enclave, a war between Israel and Hamas “is not a question of if, but when.”
Almost every evening, thousands of Gazans now gather for violent demonstrations, at the Erez crossing and elsewhere, as part of Hamas’s attempts to signal to Israel that it wants an economic solution to the Gaza Strip.
The Egyptian efforts to reconcile Hamas and Fatah have not borne fruit at this stage, and the possibility of a long-term ceasefire with Israel has apparently fallen off the agenda.
The economic situation has once again reached an unprecedented low, stoking fury among Gazans that is being directed against Israel, the PA, Hamas, and even Egypt.
One can only imagine what will happen if Abbas decides to cut the $96 million he has been sending to Gaza each month. The chances that the powder keg known as Gaza would subsequently explode range from high to very high.
And so, ironically, the American and Israeli leaders who have made Abbas irrelevant and demoralized are now dependent on the PA president’s wishes. If he places sanctions on the Gaza Strip, he might drag Israel and the Netanyahu government into a bitter new conflict.
On Wednesday, the American president said that he “likes the idea of two states.” Netanyahu, for his part, later told reporters he was fine with the Palestinians having the right to defend themselves, though not “the right to hurt us.”
Perhaps these statements by the US and Israeli leaders were an attempt to lure Abbas back to the negotiating table.
The problem is that they may well be too little, too late to prevent another war in Gaza.
Someone said the next war with Hamas will be the last. Was it Liberman? hopefully the last can happen now.
I don’t think the writer had his mind an facts properly in order when he wrote this article
He tells us what we already know well, plus a couple of eye-openers……Like..
“Israel is not ready to engage in any dialogue with him, but at the same time, expects him to accept responsibility for the Hamas run coastal enclave….:and at the end,……
“Perhaps these two statements by the American and Israeli leaders were an attempt to lure him back to the negotiating table…”
Ad for the first, Israel has, numerous times announced that they will sit at the table with Abbas any time and anywhere…, and the “attempt to LURE Abbas, doesn’t sound as if it’s Netanyahu who won’t meet with him…..
And is it not Abbas who INSISTS that he MUST be in control of Gaza, and not Israel expecting that he has to that he has to accept responsibility…etc.etc……So all in all, I’m “wondering” about this writer….
I wonder how much of the $96 monthly millions Hamas skims from the top for their war, and busy tunnel building schemes. Perhaps 50% or more. Maybe if they stopped skimming for a few months the financial situation of Gazans would improve.
Also I don’t see that another Hamas War, which is like a spare thumb on a crocodile, would impact on Trump’s Peace Plan. It takes everything into account, and what it doesn’t (possibly-just possibly another Hamas war) would be no more than a blip on the screen , a delay of a couple of weeks, and a more chastened Gaza people and leadership.
At the end of it all, I strongly condemn Israel for allowing this farcical situation to have gone on for so long until a brave and brash American President came along, and cut the self wrapped Gordian know of Israeli indolence, lazy ignorance, status quos, blind eyes, undeserved soft dealing and Laissez-faire…
There are many more words of blame that can be piled on Israel’s head, but harshness and decisiveness are not any of them. Let’s begin with “the Oslo Accords”…and of……. what’s the use…spilt milk. but when milk is spilled it’s immediately mopped up, in case it spreads and begins to smell. .
This never happened here. It was just spread around until the situation became unbearable and yet Israel hunched t’s shoulders and bore it instead of standing straight up and dealing with it.
My opinion.only.