JERUSALEM // Ahead of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s meeting with Donald Trump on Wednesday, a senior Abbas adviser cast the US president as the man who can forge a historic peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
"When you have a president who from day one commits himself to peace and invests time and effort in reaching a solution that's the definition of a historic opportunity," Husam Zomlot, the Palestine Liberation Organisation's newly appointed chief representative in Washington, told Israel's Haaretz newspaper at the weekend. Mr Trump has the "political capacity, the relationship with all the parties involved and the will" to achieve peace, he added.
Such effusive talk highlights that Mr Abbas desperately wants the US president to come to the rescue of faltering Palestinian hopes for statehood.
With Israeli settlements expanding across the heartland of the envisioned state and the Palestinian issue being eclipsed by other regional crises, statehood aspirations are at a nadir and Palestine is in need of a saviour.
But most Palestinian observers think Mr Trump is an unlikely choice for that role and that any pressure he brings to bear on peacemaking will not be in favour of the Palestinians.
“Historic deals in politics are harder than historic deals in real estate trades,” said Qais Abdul-Karim, a left-wing member of the central council of the PLO. The umbrella organisation is headed by Mr Abbas and dominated by his Fatah party.
“I don’t know if it’s possible that the Trump administration with all its clear close relations with Israel could be in a position to actually prepare the ground for a historic deal to end the conflict,” added Mr Abdul-Karim. “One can be hopeful but you also have to be realistic.”
Mr Abbas’s meeting with Mr Trump is set to take place just two days after the PLO’s Islamist rival Hamas moved to boost its popularity and international standing by unveiling a new political document that accepts the formation of a Palestinian state along 1967 borders – albeit without moving to recognise Israel.
The possibility of new momentum for Hamas makes it all the more important for Mr Abbas to be seen as having a successful meeting with Mr Trump so as not to lose ground to the Islamist group.
“With the document Hamas is seeking to be recognised as an accepted factor in the Palestinian arena and internationally,” said Naji Shurrab, a political scientist at Al Azhar University in Gaza. “This will strengthen Hamas.”
Senior PLO leader Ahmad Majdalani said Mr Abbas will be bringing a clear message to the Trump administration: “We want positive and true cooperation and partnership with president Trump to realise peace and stability and fight terrorism. As long as there is an occupation, there will be no peace and stability in the region.”
Since taking office in January, Mr Trump has met with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Jordan’s King Abdullah, twice, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and now, Mr Abbas.
His chief adviser on Arab-Israeli relations, Jason Greenblatt, meanwhile, has already met with Mr Netanyahu and Mr Abbas. This, together with Israeli media reports that Washington is exploring convening a regional peace conference that would bring together Gulf countries, Egypt, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians, give the impression that a peace plan may be being cooked up.
But Mr Abbas comes to this dynamic situation – and to his meeting with Mr Trump – in a weak position. The West Bank-based Palestinian president is hard-pressed to answer charges that he cannot claim to speak for all Palestinians, with Hamas ruling the Gaza Strip despite recent moves to try to bring it back under his control. And regionally, the Palestinian issue is a low priority, with wars raging in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen.
Mkhaimar Abusada, another political scientist at Al Azhar University in Gaza, said regional countries are more concerned with the Iranian threat than the Palestinian issue and view Israel as playing a part in containing Iran.
“There are much bigger problems in the region. Abu Mazen is in a very delicate position,” he said, referring to Mr Abbas by his kunya.
Mr Shurrab, from Al Azhar University, predicted: “Abbas will say to Trump, ‘I’m ready to resume negotiations but I want a more active US policy to achieve the historic settlement that you want’.”
Specifically, the Palestinian president will ask Mr Trump to ensure there is a halt on Israeli settlement construction, Mr Shurrab said.
PLO leader Mr Majdalani said a freeze on settlement building would be a necessary precursor to any peace negotiations.
“Settlements are destroying the two-state solution. If there is no settlement freeze, we can’t talk about a political process,” he added.
Ghassan Khatib, vice president of Bir Zeit University in the West Bank said, however, that Mr Abbas’s priority for the meeting will be to educate Mr Trump about the conflict.
“It will be the first chance for a Palestinian leader to present the new American president with the Palestinian narrative, with the Palestinian side of the story,” he said. “This is important to bring some balance to the impressions of the president. While he’s very familiar with the Israeli side, this is the first chance for him to listen to the other side.”
Mr Abbas is also hoping that being feted at the White House will boost his international standing, said Mr Abusada. “It will show the Palestinians and Arabs he is a credible partner, that he is being recognised by the US as a partner for peace. He will try to show the Palestinians and Arabs that he deserves to be treated in a respectful way.”
But if Mr Trump uses the meeting with the Palestinian president to move further in the direction of a regional conference, then Mr Abbas will feel he has to take part to stay relevant, Mr Abusada added – whatever the narrative being prioritised.
“The train is about to start moving and if Abu Mazen is not part of that train he will be left behind,” said Mr Abusada. “If there is a regional peace conference the Palestinians will have to make unprecedented concessions on Jerusalem, refugees and final borders and be pressed to recognise Israel as a Jewish state. These are the kind of big concessions that Abu Mazen will be asked to do.
“And that’s what scares the Palestinian leadership about meeting Trump.”
foreign.desk@thenational.ae