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Mahmoud Abbas just got exactly what he asked for
 "Damn your dollars!" Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas railed at the United States and President Trump during his recent maniacal tirade.Well, OK: On Tuesday, Team Trump took him at his word, cutting $65 million of the $125 million Washington sends to the UN outfit that handles Palestinian aid, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Hey, Trump had warned Abbas long ago that PA funding was at risk if its leaders refused to engage in peace talks with Israel. We quit subsidizing obstructive failure And Abbas' 2 ½-hour rant in Ramallah pretty conclusively showed that he's not remotely ready to do that. First, he again specifically rejected any thought of playing along with the latest US effort to restart negotiations: "We told Trump we will not accept his project, the 'deal of the century', which has become the 'slap of the century'" - referring to US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. More, he denied the Jewish state's legitimacy, claiming, "Israel is a colonialist project that has nothing to do with Jews." How can Israel bargain with a guy who insists the Jews have no links at all to the Holy Land? And he continues to defend PA payouts to terrorists ("heroic brothers") and their survivors, which leaves him in line for even more cuts in US aid. The House of Representatives last month passed the Taylor Force Act to further reduce PA funding if those payouts don't stop; Abbas' ravings only make it more likely that the Senate will go along. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summed it up nicely: Abbas "has torn off the mask and shown to the public the simple truth: . . . The root of the conflict between us and the Palestinians is their steadfast refusal to recognize the Jewish state in any borders whatsoever." Plainly, lasting peace is off the table until Abbas makes way for a rational leader. The only real question is how much more damage he'll do before he goes. A rational leader coudn't get elected to lead an irrational people Posted by: Frank G 2018-01-20 |
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