Mahmoud Abbas’ ultimatum to Israel, delivered in a videotaped appearance before the UN General Assembly – that within a year it must withdraw from all of what Abbas calls “the Palestinian territories” or else he will bring the case before the International Court of Justice – was praised to the skies by his own sycophants in the P.A., but was mocked and scorned by many other Palestinians. Some of their responses can be found here: “Palestinians mock Abbas W. Bank ‘withdrawal ultimatum’ to Israel,” by Khaled Abu Toameh, Jerusalem Post, September 26, 2021:
Addressing Israeli leaders, Abbas said: “Do not oppress and corner the Palestinian people and deprive them of dignity and the right to their land and state as you will destroy everything. Our patience and the patience of our people have limits. This is our land, our Jerusalem, our Palestinian identity, and we shall defend it until the occupier leaves.”
Senior PA officials and the ruling Fatah faction heaped praise on Abbas, describing his speech as “courageous, unprecedented and historic” and saying it represented a “milestone” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh hailed the speech and said it “placed the international community in front of its responsibilities to end the Israeli occupation.”…
A poll published last week by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research showed that almost 80% of the Palestinian public demand the resignation of Abbas.
Some Palestinians attached images of laughing emojis to posts containing Abbas’s call on Israel to withdraw to the pre-1967 lines within one year.
“Wow, I’m sure the Israelis are in a state of hysteria because of President Abbas’s ultimatum,” said Akram Maslamani, a university student from the West Bank, in a snide remark. “He woke up after all these years to discover that Israel is still occupying our land. This man has become a joke.”
“Abbas in a nutshell: He acknowledged the failure of the policies of the Palestinian Authority and Fatah, that the occupation continues to deny the rights of our people, that betting on the international community has failed and that Palestinian diplomacy has failed,” commented Palestinian journalist Ayman Abed.
Prominent Palestinian political analyst Dr. Fayez Abu Shamaleh said that prior to the speech, the Palestinian media created the impression that Abbas was going to drop a bombshell.
“I followed the Palestinian Authority’s media before Mahmoud Abbas’s speech,” Abu Shamaleh said. “They were talking about a ‘Day of Resurrection’ at the General Assembly, about the surprises that the president would make, about the Israelis who would flee the region, and about the people waiting in front of the satellite channels to watch their president. The truth is that 99% of the Palestinian people did not follow the speech and did not care.”
Palestinian lawyer Hasan Mezyed said that this was not the first time that Abbas had directed threats against Israel. Mezyed pointed out that Abbas has in the past failed to carry out decisions by Palestinian institutions to halt security coordination with Israel.
Social media user Raed Abu Jarad contemptuously remarked: “Mahmoud Abbas gives the occupation a full year to withdraw from the occupied territories, otherwise the response will be loud: ‘Leave us alone, go away, enough is enough and our patience is limited.’”
Political activist Issa Amro described Abbas’s speech as “weak,” saying it does not represent the aspirations of the Palestinians.
Addressing Abbas, he said: “What is needed to register your name in history and end your life in an honorable manner is a real fight against corruption, reform of the PLO and Fatah and reform of everything you destroyed.”…
Everyone knows that President-For-Life Mahmoud Abbas has refused to hold any presidential elections after the first one, the one in which he was elected. He is now in the seventeenth year of his four-year term. He promised elections at the beginning of this year, then cancelled them once he realized how unpopular he had become. He rules through force, by arresting, torturing, and imprisoning dissidents, and by murdering opponents like Nizar Banat, who was beaten to death by fourteen of Abbas’ goons. As Fawzi Barhoum notes, it is absurd for Abbas to claim that he is eager to hold elections, when he cancelled them, and to insist that the Palestinians already enjoy “democracy and pluralism” in what is a totalitarian regime.
His comical “ultimatum,” that Israel will simply ignore, has made him a laughingstock in many quarters, and especially among the Palestinians themselves.
But his “ultimatum” reminds us that two can play this game. Here are four ultimatums, or ultimata, we might deliver to President Abbas at his palatial office in Ramallah:
- Will you within a year hold the parliamentary and presidential elections that this past January you promised to hold, then cancelled the elections when you realized how deeply unpopular you are?
- If you do not call elections, will you do the decent thing, since 80% of the Palestinians now say that they want you out, and resign within the year so a caretaker successor can take your place until presidential elections can be held?
- Will you within a year allow an investigation into the sources of your $400 million family fortune?
- Will you within a year make public a complete list of the assets belonging to you and to your sons Yasser and Tareq? That list must include all your assets, including properties in France, the U.K., and the U.S., and stocks and bonds, as well as Swiss bank accounts held in the names of your grandchildren.
That’s enough for now. Palestinians, I am sure, will not be the only ones eager to read your replies.
mortimer says
The Abbas dictatorship/kleptocracy has gone on far too long and has been much too greedy even by the standards of other Pally kleptocrats. They have been pocketing too much international aid money and building too many monster homes in Cyprus for their families. The whole malodorous Pally schmozzle is a big, embarrassing farce.that even repels people in the other Arab states.
No wonder half of the Pallies have left the region and live in other countries. Half of the homes and apartments in Pally areas are now empty.
H Lindum says
And where does all the money for the Arabs living in the West Bank and Gaza come from? From the West, the USA, UK, EU etc. Are they grateful? Do they treat us with more respect for it? What do we get? If the West cut aid they would either get their act together or the Arabs would put their hands in their pockets.
bill says
Actually the Arab countries in the past have supported the ‘palestinians’ financially, though they are cutting back since the Abraham accords. Qatar last year sent 1 billion$ I believe to the ‘gazans’
Naram-Sin says
Going to court would generally be a bad idea, as international law is squarely on the side of Israel. Numerous international treaties granted all the land to Israel, but none to the “Palestinians.” The same treaties that created Israel also created Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. The case for Israel is so clear that the Palestinians should be laughed out of court, but then they are talking about the International Court of Justice, which is itself often a laughing stock.
Keith O says
Abbas’s ultimatum bears a striking resemblance to himself.
Laughable, Pathetic, Pointless and holding no relevance in the greater scheme of things. He’s a legend in his own mind and the sooner he is removed from office the sooner some semblance of peace and stability will be achieved in the region.
ElderlyZionist says
Meh. The Arabs mock Abbas and his Palestinian Authority, because they want Hamas and jihad.