With negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) seemingly at a stand-still, an analysis suggests there are not two parties to the conflict, but three – Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, and two versions of PA President Mahmoud Abbas: the version experienced by the Arab world, and the one witnessed by the West.
Indeed, these two versions of Abbas share a face and a name but contradict one another in almost every other way. The West sees a moderate Arab leader, one of few in the Middle East, geared towards rebuilding from the ruins of a broken people; who sees peace and compromise with their neighbours as the only tool for achieving this. The Arab world, and most importantly the Palestinian people, see an angry leader, who not only shares but helps fan their violent fervour towards the entity upon whom they place sole blame for their hardships – the Zionist movement, the Jewish people, the State of Israel.
David Pollock of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy recently published a political analysis of the changes in messaging from the Palestinian Authority and on the streets of the West Bank and Gaza. Exploring changes in tone since the formation of a unity government with Hamas, the conspicuousness of the increasing absence of terror condemnation, and a consequently growing support for armed resistance, Pollock’s “policy focus” highlights that the two versions of Abbas appear intermittently, sometimes consecutively, but never to the same audience.
The West-oriented Abbas most recently appeared after the bus-bombing on April 25 – the first bombing on public transport in Israel for many years, but coming amidst a wave of terror characterised mainly by stabbings and the use of vehicles to run over Israel.
Full article is on the AIJAC website