Abbas' "Empty Bombshell"

BBC photo

Abbas: No Longer Bound by Oslo Accords - Zeina Karam

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the UN General Assembly that he is no longer bound by agreements signed with Israel, though he stopped short of dissolving the Palestinian Authority. Abbas also called upon the UN "to provide international protection for the Palestinian people." 

Abbas' tough talk could be an attempt to mask his political weakness as hopes of setting up a Palestinian state have been derailed. 
(AP-MSNBC)


Palestinians Raise Flag at UN - Hugh Bronstein

Palestinian officials cheered as their national flag flew for the first time at UN headquarters in New York. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas officiated at the ceremony, saying: "The day for raising this flag will come soon in Jerusalem, the capital of our Palestinian state." The General Assembly approved a Palestinian resolution this month saying flags of non-member states "shall be raised at (UN) Headquarters." The U.S. and Israel voted against the resolution, saying that symbolic moves like raising flags do nothing to move the peace process forward.
(Reuters)


Abbas' Empty Bombshell - Khaled Abu Toameh

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas did not announce his resignation or the dismantlement of the PA. Instead, he repeated his old threat to abandon signed accords with Israel. This is another conditional threat by Abbas and not a straightforward announcement abrogating the Oslo Accords and other agreements with Israel.

In his speech, Abbas did not abandon the peace process with Israel. He did not even suspend security coordination with Israel - without which the PA would not be able to survive. Abbas' speech is not going to change anything on the ground.
(Jerusalem Post)


Will Abbas' Speech Have Much Impact? - Ken Bredemeier & Cecily Hilleary

Analysts questioned whether Abbas' UN speech will have much impact at a time when the Middle East peace process is far down the international community's agenda. "Mahmoud Abbas has a major strategic dilemma on his hands," said Josef Olmert, adjunct professor of political science at the University of South Carolina, "and that is how to make the Palestinian question in general, and the Palestinian Authority in particular, relevant again, at a time when the burning issues in the Middle East are Syria, Iraq, refugees and ISIS." 
(VOA News)


Will There Be a Third Intifada? - Shlomi Eldar

Will a third intifada erupt on the Temple Mount and spread like wildfire across the West Bank? A senior Palestinian official explained that without a prominent body like Fatah coaxing the street, there will be no intifada on the scale of the two previous ones, which began in 1987 and 2000. But Fatah's senior members are preoccupied with who will succeed Abbas. 

By all indications, an all-out conflict with Israel is not really seething below the surface. Yunes Aida of Hebron said, "I was 14 when the second intifada broke out. There were many fatalities and casualties. It was a big mess. It didn't bring us a solution. People know that another intifada and more fatalities will only make their lives harder. They don't have the energy for that. It's not just my own personal opinion. I'm telling you what all the people here are saying."

The Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority leaders are not interested in a return to total chaos and the destruction of PA institutions, which were painstakingly built and are now considered by West Bank residents to be their legitimate political and civilian establishment.
(Al-Monitor)
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