Palestine - one Arab, two States, three hats, no Jews

Abbas is certainly frank about where his loyalties reside.

On April 27, 2009 he told a preliminary conference of the Palestinian Youth Conference at Ramallah:

“A Jewish State, what is that supposed to mean? You can call yourselves as you like, but I don’t accept it and I say so publicly. All I know is that there is the state of Israel, in the borders of 1967, not one centimeter less. Anything else I don’t accept” (Y Net - April 27, 2009).

Abbas - after this outburst - had no compunction or embarrassment in accepting a large framed map of “Palestine” covering the entire area of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea . This picture later appeared on the front page of both daily publications of the Palestinian Authority.

Abbas is clearly conflicted - advocating for a “two state solution” while heading two organisations that call for the elimination of one of those two states. He heads the third organisation - the Palestinian Authority - without any electoral mandate to do so and is powerless to guarantee the performance of - let alone honour and enforce - any agreement with Israel. He is locked in a power struggle with Hamas with no reconciliation in sight.

Continuing to deal with Abbas while he wears three hats has proved to be - and will continue to be - a recipe for disaster.