1/ Reacting to Trump’s vision, the Palestinian leadership has pursued some good tactics alongside misguided ones. How should they really respond? My latest piece for @ForeignPolicy – and additional reflections below. foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/18/the…
@ForeignPolicy 2/ The PLO mobilized at the UNSC but failed to secure their resolution. Documents show the diplomatic battle the Palestinians face, with the US literally track-changing international law out of the draft resolution. foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/14/whi…
3/ In that sense, the PLO’s instinct to break American hegemony over Palestine is well-placed. The UN battleground, however, shows how isolated Palestinians are. The PLO is right to double down on the ICC, maybe even the ICJ, to inject accountability.
4/ Less productive were Abbas’s meeting with Olmert and the PA’s prompts to Palestinian officials to meet and lobby “left wing Israelis,” both in Ramallah and Tel Aviv.
5/ These misguided (and desperate) policies look at the past peace process with rose tinted glasses, ignore the signs that these constituencies no longer hold power within Israel’s political establishment, and misread the sentiment on the Palestinian street.
6/ Despite its isolation, the Pal leadership is well-placed to leverage favorable international shifts, whether it’s the UN database or the nascent readiness of EU policymakers to speak of equal rights when it comes to Israel/Palestine.
7/ However, their biggest challenge is on the domestic stage, not the international one, as they come face to face with this question: can, and should, the PA be dismantled given Israeli and American efforts to entrench the one-state reality?
