Any early-January look ahead to the year in international politics would be incomplete without acknowledging the boldest diplomatic move of the year just ended. That move came when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas stole the spotlight from far more visible diplomats John Kerry, Mohammed Zarif and Sergey Lavrov by threatening unilateral withdrawal from the Oslo Accords. Speaking to the United Nations’ General Assembly on September 30, Abbas announced, “We cannot continue to be bound by these signed agreements.” His speech was met with skepticism, laughter and counter-threats, but also a serious question: “When did the Palestinian Authority ever adhere to the Oslo Accords?”
After its September 1970 (Black September) defeat in Jordan, the PLO was sent north, where it precipitated Lebanon’s downward spiral from Mediterranean vacation spot to war zone. After their defeat in 1982 by Israeli forces, PLO leaders were mercifully allowed to leave Lebanon for Tunisia, where they remained in exile for over a decade.
The series of agreements collectively known as the Oslo Accords allowed the exiled PLO leaders to return from Tunisia and conferred legitimacy upon them as ministers of the Palestinian Authority. Their promise of a new moderation was rewarded with billions of dollars and euros from the “International Community.” In return for money, recognition as diplomats and territory, PLO leaders agreed to refrain from terrorism against Israel and to crack down on Hamas and other Islamic terrorists operating from the newly-sovereign PA-administered territories. They did neither. In fact, terrorism against Israelis by Palestinians increased after Oslo.
Prior to Oslo, Palestinian terrorism consisted of hit-and-run attacks, airplane hijackings, sniper fire, and knife attacks (now back in vogue). The operational security conferred by Oslo brought about the era of suicide bombing – not just from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but from PA/PLO-affiliated groups such as the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Tanzim and even the PFLP.
Under Oslo, the PLO was supposed to amend its charter and become the non-violent PA, Israel’s purported peace partner. But this was a charade. The PLO never changed its ways. It pretended to crack down on Hamas when necessary, but allowed, and even orchestrated, suicide bombings against Israelis. It pretended to accept the existence of Israel, but when Arafat thought no one was watching, he continued to push for the murder of Israelis. The PLO never stopped being the PLO, and it never adhered to Oslo.
Abbas’ peculiar initiative deserves recognition for its originality. In his efforts to wrest further concessions from Israel, Mahmoud Abbas (a/k/a/ Abu Mazen) may in fact have spawned a bold and novel strategy, unknown in the history of diplomacy: threatening to stop doing what one has never actually done. If the scheme succeeds, 2016 might bring other bewildering developments.
Assuming the rest of the UN is as inspired by Abbas’ speech as the General Assembly was, the Human Rights Council (HRC) might soon lobby for a budget increase, threatening to stop protecting Israel from unwarranted harassment if it does not receive at least a 10% increase. The UNRWA might do the same, threatening to end its scrupulous investigations into the off-duty activities of its employees (none of whom are Hamas members, naturally).
Sensing a trend, eternal Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat might adopt the Abbas diplomacy in his fight over Israeli tax payments to the PA, threatening non-compliance with an end to the half-century pattern of compromise that has served as the guiding principle of the PLO.
Executives at the Gaza Civil Works Authority might use the tactic to gain more access to Western technology and free raw materials. If they don’t get their way, they can threaten to halt the ongoing construction of sewers, roads and factories and instead spend the billions of dollars in aid from the world on the construction of un-civil works that might be used for belligerent activities.
With his eye always on achieving full EU membership for Turkey, Recip Tayyip Erdogan might look to speed up the process by threatening to move away from the reforms instituted by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk – reforms he has fought so hard to uphold – if the decision doesn’t come soon.
The Saudis might take to the idea, too. Bowing to incessant pressure from prominent Western feminist organizations, King Salman of Saudi Arabia might threaten to suspend the much-anticipated merger of the Mecca & Medina Motor Club with the All-Women’s Saudi School of Driving if he is not recognized as a great supporter of women’s rights.
And if the Saudis are on board, soon the Iranians will follow. Attempting to secure an early release of the $100-150 billion promised to Iran under the JCPOA, supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei might threaten to rescind his promise to arrest scientists engaged in nuclear and missile research, a policy that began when moderate president Hassan Rouhani announced to the world that Iran had abandoned its missile program.
And finally, in a truly unprecedented move, former Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters might threaten to cancel his annual concert in Israel if authorities deny his request to perform The Wall at Israel’s wall – the structure separating Israelis from the suicide bombers whose 4,000-plus attacks killed 1,639 Israelis before it was built and effectively ended that threat.
In the 12th year of his 4-year term as Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas just might become a diplomatic trail blazer. Yasir Arafat would be proud.
A.J. Caschetta is a senior lecturer at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a Shillman-Ginsburg fellow at the Middle East Forum. He can be reached at ajcgsl@rit.edu.

LOL!@thetitle says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePcQIS4PDUQ The PA’s diplomacy
Martin says
Superb A.J.
Angemon says
Indeed.
Vae Victis says
About time we put an end to this PLO bull. PA will never be interested in peace. Even if they annihilate Israel completely, they will still hate and kill each other. They were born to it.
Israel should just declare the west bank to be part of Israel.
They should then make all the Arabs (so called Palestinians – wot a crock) Israeli citizens. Treat any that commit criminal acts as criminals under the law. Introduce a proper education system in the west bank, not the current hate filled system that teaches children blind hatred for their fellow man. Liberate the Arab women, make their lives matter. If you win over the women and children, the rest won’t matter. If that doesn’t work, load them all on boats to Europe.
To hell with the UN. They are corrupt, bumbling and inept, controlled by your enemies, a significant drain on the global purse and a complete waste of time and effort.
Move forward into history. Don’t stagnate, that leads to decay.
Take a leaf out of the Muslim history book. Would Mahomet have tolerated the situation Israel finds itself in. Turn your enemies against themselves, then mop up the survivors.
Israelis are a strong people, they needs a strong leader like Moses or Joshua. Trust in the Lord.
Ernie says
Vae Victis…..It seems someone is passing around hot potatoes for free here…: If that doesn’t work , load all of them on boats to Europe..? Why don’t you invite them to your own country Vae Victis ? I certainly don’t want more of them here in Europe !( The Libtard European Union’s Leaders might think otherwise I know.. The Satanistic Undemocratic New World Order United Nations and Poop Francis would certainly love it ( replacement of Europe’s original population….) …..
judaeogladiator says
It seems to me a pattern is developing . Rodent diplomacy as in the tactics employed by isis and lezblowah. Tunnel baby tunnel like a mole pop up and run away like filthy little moles. Offer hope and when Israel approaches to talk run away pop up run away etc.
Don McKellar says
Blistering sarcasm! Good stuff!
Linde Barrera says
To A. J. Caschetta- Thank you for this very informative article. While I don’t care for sarcasm generally speaking, your commentary came alive because of it, especially regarding the UN and other organizations that either must be involved with the PLO or want to be. More, please?
gravenimage says
Will 2016 Be the Year of Abbas Diplomacy?
…………………….
Mahmoud Abbas is every bit the Muslim thug Yassir Arafat was–the western-style suit should fool no one.
Mathew Solo says
These people who call themselves Palestinian Arabs …they are mostly Amalekites a nomadic people who are commonly considered to be Amalek’s descendants…
Though the definite origins of the word “Palestine” have been debated for years and are still not known for sure, the name is believed to be derived from the Egyptian and Hebrew word peleshet. Roughly translated to mean “rolling” or “migratory,” the term was used to describe the inhabitants of the land to the northeast of Egypt – the Philistines. The Philistines were an Aegean people – more closely related to the Greeks and with No Connection Ethnically, Linguistically or Historically with Arabia – Arabia who conquered in the 12th Century BCE the Mediterranean coastal plain that is now Israel and Gaza.
A derivitave of the name “Palestine” first appears in Greek literature in the 5th Century BCE when the historian Herodotus called the area “Palaistinē” In the 2nd century CE, the Romans crushed the Jewish revolt against Roman rule (132 CE), during which Jerusalem and Judea were regained by the Romans and the area of Judea was renamed Palaestina in an attempt by Rome to minimize Jewish identification with the land of Israel.
In Arabic, the corresponding term for the Amalek is Imlīq, whose descendants Al-Amālīq were early residents of the Haram at Mecca, later supplanted by the Banu Jurhum.
While considerable knowledge about nomadic Arabs have been recovered through archeological research, no specific artifacts or sites have been linked to Amalek with any certainty
The PLO seems to be the ones to have made the name Palistinian stick on These People…which are mainly in Jordan and in Israel…there are very many of them who will Never Accept Being Good Settled Citizens…It seems to be the Amalekite Way…and just like all the humans on this planet…they will see themselves right and the others wrong…The Nation of Israel has not taken anything from These People…Israel instead Wants Things These people Don’t Want…National Organized Law and Rule by a Democratic People…National Boundaries and the Willingness to keep them…To Prosper Through Hard Work Which Allows Anyone Participating in It to Grow and move on with Their Own Lives…and last but not least Israel just will not be Amalekite…how dare them…Jews!
Arabs who desire to control the Temple Mount in Jerusalem often deny that Israelite presence there predates Muslim presence that first appears about 700 AD…Yet…recent archaeological evidence counters the Arab claim…A 10-year-old Russian boy…recently made an extraordinary discovery in Jerusalem…Working as a volunteer in the Temple Mount Sifting Project…he found a 3,000-year-old seal…engraved limestone about the size of a thimble…with a hole at one end so it could be hung from a string…from the time of the kings of Israel [about 1000 BC]…The artifact was nestled in the hundreds of tons of earth and rock that had been illegally excavated from below the Temple Mount in the late 1990s by the Muslim Waqf… the seal confirms the ancient Jewish presence in Jerusalem—more than a millennium before the Muslim Dome of the Rock was built.
The Bible places Israelites on the Temple Mount at the time of kings David and Solomon (see 1 Kings)…This new “hard evidence” supports the biblical claim.
BC says
Israel can do without Waters and his anti education song, it would be a travesty to allow him to give support to suicide bombers and Hamas. Turkey must never be allowed into the EU. The permission to have 70 million Muslims free entry and residence in Eu countries would be a disaster. Turkey is not a European nation by any means
Ernie says
Wholeheartely agreed here BC : Turkey must never be allowed in the EU . And good fences make good neighbours .
JIMJFOX says
The “West Bank” [Judea/Samaria] were ceded under the Oslo Accords;
if Abbas negates these then Israel is within its rights to re-assume legal ownership of said areas…
Bisley says
Abbas isn’t going to do anything, and couldn’t if he wanted to. Maintaining his precarious hold on power requires that he portray himself to the Palestinian public as an enemy of Israel — maintaining some sort of international legitimacy, and keeping the aid money flowing, requires that he covertly cooperate with Israel to some degree, and at least give the impression that he is open to negotiating some sort of deal. He has no room to maneuver either way, without losing his position and his income. If it ever comes to the point where he must make a move one way, or the other, his move will be out of the region to wherever all the money he’s stolen is stashed.
YB says
I think you miss the whole point of the Oslo accords. their sole purpose was to stick a bunch of stateless Muslims who might demand Israeli citizenship with a non-existent ID. They were stripped of citizenship by Egypt and Jordan. Thus the so-called pallies cannot vote for the knesset because they vote for the PA. No Israeli really expected the PA to evolve to a peaceful state. Everytone knew it was all a charade. The majority of monies give to the PA are spent in ISrael – how else do they buy Israeli produceand building materials? However, Israel of 1993 is not 2015. Its a lot more populated with jews, so the threat from the disolving PA is not nearly as great