More than a month after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government announced a series of measures to strengthen the ineffectual Palestinian Authority, they have yet to be implemented. Israel’s inaction leads critics to conclude that the measures are mostly declarative or symbolic in nature and are mainly intended to mollify the United States and the […]
Once bitten, twice shy. Mahmoud Abbas, the 85-year-old president of the Palestinian Authority and the leader of the mainstream Fatah party, was taking no chances. On April 29, he postponed the Palestinian parliamentary election, which was due to be held on May 22. This came as no surprise to observers. Abbas has been wary of […]
The mainstream Palestinian leadership heaved a sigh of relief after Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the November 3 presidential election. Under Trump’s presidency, the United States’ bilateral relationship with the Palestinian Authority sank to a new low, prompting the Palestinians to invest their hopes in a Biden presidency. Although Trump has so far refused […]
Israel’s decision to annex the Jordan Valley later this year has drawn widespread condemnation, particularly in the Middle East. The Arab League has said that annexation would be considered a “new war crime.” King Abdullah of Jordan has warned it would lead to a “massive conflict” with his country, while Jordanian Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz has […]
A few days ago, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas delivered what he described as a “history lesson” to the Palestinian National Council in Ramallah. Some history lesson! During the course of a long and rambling speech, he made false and grotesque claims. They will surely diminish him in the eyes of peace-loving Israelis and Jews […]
In a fire-and-brimstone speech to the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Council in Ramallah recently, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas claimed that Zionism and Judaism are unrelated and that Jews imperilled by genocide had no interest in leaving wartime Europe. Abbas, who wrote his PhD on the Holocaust, should have known better than to make such […]
In a speech delivered at the European Parliament in Brussels on June 23, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas set back the cause of peace and tarnished his credentials as a leader by descending into the muck of antisemitism. Abbas claimed that “a number of rabbis in Israel … made a clear announcement demanding that their […]