Sidelining Abbas - a consideration

Submitted by Jorg Thomas Meyer (Germany), Nov 17, 2022 at 04:18

Beside all the melancholic hand wringing concerning Israel here eventually comes a sober and refreshing summary and analysis. The rock solid point of departure, be it a look in the rear mirror or an outlook to future developments is the question how distant, resp. how close victory is and what steps are essential to move forward.

Given this background I wonder if one faction within the Palestinian camp is frequently neglected: beside the complicated PA/PLO network on the one hand, and Hamas/PIJ on the other, there might exist a tool to focus on a "third faction", the ordinary Arab family, who is striving to make a living, taking care of the education of their children and is not intensely linked to any politocal party - perhaps with the exception of a foto of late King Hussein II of Jordan at the wall of the living room. I think it is at least worth a try to separate ordinary people of good will from their radical leadership.

The proper "wheel" has already been invented, but then thrown to the rubbish - a measure which might have been premature. I am referring here to the project of establshment of a "State of Ishmael" in a quite similar manner as Turkey had established a "Republic of northern Cyprus". The Ishmael-idea came from late Rehavam Ze'evi, nicknamed "Gandhi". Ventilated just in the aftermath of the six day war, the new state was considered to be incepted in Yehuda & Shomron under the guidance and control of Israel. Even bank notes had already been printed - complete with pictures of palm trees and camels. As a matter of course, Israeli communities would have had a place in Ishmael in the same manner as gentile Arabs are citizens of Medinat Israel.

You may say that no other state would establish diplomatic relations with Ishmael. So what ? The present situation is not recognized, either. The point here is to bypass the PLO as a proper answer of Abbas' attempts to bypass Israel in diverse UN organisations. I doubt that it is the right way to go to accept the PLO as "sole" representative of their people.

The Oslo treaties have almost closed the window of opportunity for such a project. In theory, it could still be established in areas C and H2, and, on becoming attractive and thereby a serious competitor with the PA-territories of areas A,B and H1, trigger a further development which would not very pleasant for the PLO leadership.

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