As they step even closer to the abyss, the Palestinians are trying to drag the entire Arab world down with them. They expect and are essentially demanding for Arab states to turn their backs on their ally, the United States, and join the Palestinian Authority in its quarrel with Washington, sever all contact with the Trump administration, and help the Palestinians torpedo efforts to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace.
In the past, the Palestinians simply had to nod in a certain direction for the Arab world to heed their desires and whims and dutifully follow the dictates of the PLO and its leaders. The glory days of Palestinian nationalism, however, are gone. Arab countries no longer fear saying no to the Palestinians. They also don't want to abandon their own interests anymore on the Palestinians' behalf; or more to the point, on behalf of their contrariety, caprice, and inability to make the courageous and often painful but necessary compromises for the sake of their own future.
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The Arab world, by and large, no longer views Israel as the enemy – rather as a strategic ally in the fight against the extremism and terror espoused by Iran and its proxies. For many Arab countries – which can no longer neglect or jeopardize their futures in service of the Palestinian cause – this fight is imperative.
The decision by Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Gulf States to attend the US-led economic summit in Bahrain, therefore, is a resounding slap in the face of the Palestinian Authority and expresses an utter lack of faith in its path and leadership. Consequently, Palestinian Authority leaders now find themselves without troops and without support. The Palestinian public is fed up with the PA and doesn't trust it anymore. Arab countries are following suit.
The Palestinians, true to their tradition, are choosing the path of rejection while dodging the tough decisions, but this time they are alone and lagging behind the pack. If they aren't careful they could lose more than their power to veto normalization of Israeli-Arab ties, which they essentially squandered a long time ago. What's really at stake now is their ability to decide their own fate.
The United States and Israel have already made it clear they will not wait for the Palestinians, and Arab states are now signaling they won't let the Palestinians obstruct the Americans' effort to introduce a regional, and even an Israeli-Palestinian accord.
