Abbass speech is a grenade in the Israeli rights lap
After nine years of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telling us there is “no partner,” we finally received proof that the “magician from Balfour Street,” as he is sometimes known, was right again: There is no peace partner at the moment and it doesn’t like there will be one anytime soon.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas succeeded in creating a rare consensus in Israeli society with his speech on Sunday, having made clear what Israeli right-wingers have been saying at every turn in recent years: The issue isn’t the 1967 borders; it is Palestinian unwillingness to accept the existence of the Jewish state.
The question is whether any of those who were proven right are bothering to wonder who Abbas’s replacement will be and what will happen after the 82-year-old is gone. Does anyone in the Israeli government have a plan for the next step regarding the Palestinians?
Many questions come to mind following Abbas’s statements to PLO Central Council members and the understanding that the two-state solution is most certainly dead.
Clearly, a Palestinian state will not be established alongside the State of Israel in the foreseeable future. But what will happen instead, once Abbas is gone? Is Israel interested in preserving the current situation, meaning limited control of the Palestinians — who will become increasingly economically dependent on Israel — and settlement construction, in the hopes that the Palestinians will just sit quietly? An “enlightened occupation,” or something of the sort?
https://www.timesofisrael.com/abbass-speech-lobbed-a-hot-potato-in-the-israeli-rights-lap/