It is interesting to note that since Abbas’s controversial speech on Jan. 14 many left wing activists organisations are expressing views that his speech disqualifies him as a negotiating partner.
In a two-hour address to the Palestinian Central Council (PCC), Abbas called Israel “a colonialist enterprise that has nothing to do with Judaism.” He also claimed Jews from Arab countries did not want to come to Israel when the state was established, but were forced to do so by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion.
The PA leader also said he “categorically rejects” American and Israeli appeals to stop paying salaries to imprisoned terrorists and the families of dead terrorists. “We are proud of them, and we will pay them before we pay the living,” Abbas vowed. Regarding the use of violence against Israel, Abbas said he himself would not declare war on Israel, then added, “If you have weapons, go ahead; I’m with you, and I will help you. Anyone who has weapons can go ahead.”
a) The Israel Policy Forum (IPF), a leading dovish group, declared that Abbas’s “unhinged screed” makes it “impossible to view Abbas as a viable negotiating partner, when he continues to deny the right of the Jewish people to their own national movement and when he continues to insist that the basic recognition of a Jewish homeland is the original sin of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
b) Rabbi Eric Yoffie, a longtime peace activist and former president of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), told JNS that while he still wants the international community “to keep the possibility of a two-state solution alive,” Abbas’s statements “were outrageous, ignorant and insulting to Jews and civilized people everywhere,” and demonstrate “that progress on the peace front is not possible at the moment.”
c) Jane Eisner, editor-in-chief of The Forward and a strong proponent of Palestinian statehood, blasted Abbas in a Jan. 17 editorial. Regarding Abbas’s claims about Israel’s nature and its founding, Eisner wrote, “If Abbas really thinks that is what happened, then he has no business pretending to be a partner for peace. And if he is repeating ugly rhetoric only to please his ever-thinning crowds, then such irresponsibility also disqualifies him.”
d) Investigative journalist and author Gary Weiss, a former activist in the New Israel Fund, told JNS, “I do not agree that [President Donald] Trump is to blame. That’s absurd. While I disagree with Trump on a great many things, he is simply speaking the truth on Jerusalem. If that causes Abbas to go bananas, that’s a reflection on Abbas, not Trump.”
e) Rabbi Charles A. Kroloff, a member of the J Street Rabbinic Cabinet and vice president for special projects at Hebrew Union College, said that while he hopes “Israeli-Palestinian discussions and cooperation” will continue, Abbas’s statement was “a despicable expression of hatred for Israel and for Jews and a disgusting statement of support for terrorists and their families.” As a result, “he has effectively removed himself near-term as a player in future negotiations,” said Kroloff.
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