Not satisfied with declaring at the Fatah congress that they were going to wait for Obama to pressure Israel into full compliance with their demands (and that was on top of telling the Washington Post that they were going to wait for Obama to pressure Israeli into full compliance with their demands), the Palestinians are now aiming for “natural growth” building and will be using that as an excuse not to hold peace talks with Israel.
The Palestinian Authority is unhappy with the recent developments in the talks between Israel and the United States. Palestinian sources told Ynet on Sunday morning that they were working to change the deal being formed between Washington and Jerusalem, which is slated to allow the completion of some 2,500 housing units in West Bank settlements.
Do I think this will get any traction? Absolutely. The media will spin the refusal to talk to Israel as Israel’s fault for refusing to stop “settlement” growth, even when that “settlement” growth is in Jerusalem.
You need to understand something about the PA, if you don’t already know it: It is an extortion racket. It has always been an extortion racket. The PA extorts billions of dollars out of the guilt-ridden West, uses some of it to buy weapons, some of it to pay salaries to people whose jobs are being members of the PA, and most of it to enrich the elite of the PA (cf: Palestinian elite and supplying cement for the separation barrier). It is in Mahmoud Abbas’ best interests not to deal with Israel, because then he might find himself in the same place that Yasser Arafat found himself in 2000: With a deal from Israel pending that would give the Palestinians just about everything they want. And we all know what happened next: War. Because the Palestinian leadership doesn’t want a Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace with Israel. They want a Palestinian state in place of Israel, or war until they get it.