Deceiving Trump and Tillerson has consequences for Abbas

President Trump and Secretary of State Tillerson are quickly learning that tough talk is needed to rein in Mahmoud Abbas – who has deceived Trump and Tillerson twice in the last month.

1. Abbas sweet-talked Trump at the White House on 3 May claiming:

we are raising our youth, our children, our grandchildren on a culture of peace.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly responded on 4 May:

I heard President Abbas yesterday say that Palestinians teach their children peace. That's unfortunately not true. They name their schools after mass murders of Israelis and they pay terrorists...

Trump blasted Abbas in Bethlehem on 23 May:

You tricked me in D.C.! You talked there about your commitment to peace, but the Israelis showed me your involvement in incitement

2. Tillerson too was made to look stupid after he had told a Senate hearing on 13 June that he had been informed that Abbas intended ceasing the policy of payments to terrorists.

Tillerson's claim was immediately repudiated by Issa Qaraqe, the head of the PA prisoners affairs department:

This is not true and this statement is an aggression against the Palestinian people...

Such duplicity does not augur well for creating an environment hoping to end the Jewish-Arab conflict.

Straight talking from Trump is needed to: