The Palestinians are threatening diplomatic warfare if the US does not give in to their demands.
The Palestinians have decided to present President Donald Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, with an ultimatum at their upcoming meeting with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas at the end of the month.
The Palestinian ultimatum states that unless progress is made within 45 days on launching talks with the Israelis, the Palestinians will consider themselves no longer committed to the US mediation and will turn to an alternative plan to push for unilateral United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state.
A senior Palestinian source told Shlomi Eldar, a senior Palestinian affairs reporter writing for Al-Monitor, that Abbas is running out of the time he has to govern and cannot waste it on “games.”
Abbas is demanding that Trump publicly declare that the US regards the two-state solution as the only solution and that he insist Israel “stop creating facts on the ground” through construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
Trump has said he would accept any solution that would resolve the conflict. “Looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like,” he said in February, at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.
“If we don’t hear within a month and a half that the American team has stopped talking and started doing, Abbas intends to mobilize anyone and everyone he can for the UN General Assembly session on the establishment of a Palestinian state, regardless of the Israeli and American reactions,” the official told Al-Monitor.
Abbas expressed frustration with the US on Sunday, saying he has met with the American representatives 20 times since Trump took office in January but still had no clear vision of what peace plan they had in mind.
“I don’t understand their conduct toward us, as inside his country the administration is in chaos,” Abbas was quoted as saying.
The Palestinian official who spoke with Al-Monitor said that even though the PA’s belligerent course of action could result in serious damage to its relationship with Washington, these were not empty threats and the ultimatum to the US had been carefully considered.
By: United with Israel Staff