Palestinians Undermine US Interests In The Middle East

US President Joe Biden and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas deliver statements to the media after their meeting at the Muqataa Presidential Compound in the city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on July 15, 2022.With each succeeding day, the Biden administration’s strategy for helping the Palestinian Arabs achieve statehood seems further doomed. PHOTO BY MANDEL NGAN/GETTY IMAGES

How have the Palestinians responded? By forging stronger ties with America’s enemies and ramping up their unyielding efforts to destroy Israel—America’s greatest ally in the Middle East. This behavior blatantly contradicts U.S. interests, as well as specific requests the U.S. has made of the Palestinians.

Moreover, despite all of Biden’s massive support, the Palestinian Authority, under 87-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas, is quickly losing control of its territory in Judea and Samaria to terrorists—both rogue groups and those tied to Hamas and Iran.

Such deteriorating circumstances would seem to compel a change in U.S. policy. Clearly, Biden needs to stop coddling the Palestinians and treat them like the enemy they have become. The U.S. needs to insist the Palestinians stop undermining American interests in the region and take concrete steps towards peace with Israel.

 Last week the U.S. State Department issued a press statement saying, “The United States is deeply troubled by the Israeli government’s reported decision to advance planning for over 4,000 settlement units in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria).” Tragically, the Biden Administration doesn’t maintain a similar drumbeat of condemnations on the P.A.’s pay-for-slay policy or its continued indoctrination of Palestinian children to murder innocent Israelis.

Palestinians and supporters gather to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Nakba in Times Square on May 14, 2023 in New York City. President Biden has also supported the Palestinians diplomatically in the hopes of encouraging peace. Last year, Biden upgraded America’s relations with the Palestinians by appointing a special representative for Palestinian affairs. He also promised to reopen the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, closed by the Trump administration in 2019, though he has not yet followed through on that promise. PHOTO BY LEONARDO MUNZO/VIEW PRESS/GETTI IMAGES 

The PA is currently forging a new alliance with U.S.-rival China in the form of a “strategic partnership,” signed by the two parties on June 14. China has also historically been hostile to Israel on the diplomatic stage, consistently backing the Palestinians and condemning Israel’s defensive operations against Palestinian terrorists. China now seeks to challenge U.S. power in the Middle East.

Finally, the PA is quickly losing control of its security responsibilities in Judea and Samaria. Independent terrorist militias in areas of “Palestinian control” are rampaging against Jewish communities, blatantly ignoring Abbas’s authority. In addition, Abbas’s political nemesis, Hamas, just swept student elections at the Palestinian Bir Zeit University, inside the P.A.’s jurisdiction, portending an ominous new power balance upon Abbas’ death. 

This laissez faire attitude doesn’t help the Palestinians, doesn’t help the United States and certainly doesn’t help Israel, whose battle against outlaw terrorist forces within Abbas’s jurisdiction seems to be turning into a war. 

 

 

Produced in association with Jewish News Syndicate