Palestinians to Abbas: Stay Put
The Palestinians’ problems at times seem insurmountable. Their justice system is in shambles. Extrajudicial killings are common. A terrorist group, Hamas, rival to the ruling Fatah party, delivers most social services. The Palestinians were promised peace, but their leaders have yet to deliver. Palestinian society remains largely dependent on foreign aid. One would think the Palestinian President would be too preoccupied solving issues to have time for anything else, much less travel.
Not the case.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas this week heads to Latin America – Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, and Mexico, specifically. He aims to rally international support for a push at the United Nations for a unilateral declaration of statehood, which would contravene the Oslo Accords’ prohibition on any step prejudging the outcome of final-status negotiations.
Abbas travels a lot, especially for a leader with tons of unresolved problems at home. Last December, he visited Chechnya and Russia. And the August before that, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Egypt. In October 2008, it was Syria and, in July, Tunisia. Since assuming the presidency in 2004, Abbas also has visited Chile, Mauritania, India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, Senegal, Malta, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mali, Brunei, and more than a dozen European countries, not to mention the U.S.
Despite all this international travel, guess where Abbas had never set foot as President as of late last year — the Palestinian cities of Hebron, Janin, Qalqiliya, and Tulkarem. Local leaders of his own Fatah party complain that he hasn’t visited their districts and addressed the people there. Palestinian commentator Hani al-Masri says Abbas has “little to show” for his time as President and prefers to travel in order to avoid dealing with difficult domestic issues.
Abbas’ defenders say international travel is key to winning broad support for the Palestinian cause. They are probably right, and it may help explain why the UN is so partial to Palestinian political positions. Despite his jet-setting and criticism from his own people, Abbas remains the U.S. State Department’s favorite child. Department spokesman Ian Kelly, on November 6, said of Abbas after his threatened resignation:
We have tremendous respect for him and we think he’s an important player in the process, a voice of moderation, and we look forward to continuing to work with him.
“Tremendous” respect? Does he really deserve that? Besides win friends abroad, what has he done to help resolve his people’s day-to-day problems or advance the peace process one bit? Rather, this statement reveals the desperation at the State Department to grab onto anything it can to resuscitate the peace process. It’s pathetic and, more importantly, counter-productive.
By embracing a man who has done little to prepare his people for concessions necessary to bring peace or to resolve the domestic issues confronting his people, the State Department condemns the Palestinians to poor and ineffective leadership. The media are equally to blame. Point out one article in the press, ever, discussing Abbas’s role in proposing or approving legislation addressing any Palestinian domestic issue or one article discussing Abbas’s leadership style or how he governs or brokers solutions to domestic issues. Such responsibilities are not expected of the man, so the media doesn’t cover it.
If Abbas continues to get a free ride — and all indications are that he will — then the Palestinians will continue to be cheated of responsible, effective leadership expected of democracies worldwide, and the Palestinians will never be able to develop the institutions necessary for self-governance and needed to help reassure Israelis that any further concessions would really bring peace.
Jess Sadick is Vice President of Operations and Policy at EMET.