The Palestinians' appeal to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, asking them to lead the battle against Israel's plans to declare sovereignty in the Jordan Valley and settlements in Judea and Samaria, along with the Arab outrage that PA President Mahmoud Abbas brought down upon himself when he opened the door to Erdogan, the darling of the Muslim Brotherhood, prove how far the Palestinians are willing to go to secure help from non-Arab Islamic sources in the face of their despair over the lack of Arab support. These new sources are a red flag for Arab states, which are supposedly committed to protecting Palestinian national interests.
However, Ramallah still hasn't grasped what the leaders of the moderate Arab axis – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, as well as the Hashemite royal family in Jordan – understood long ago. The Palestinians make daily threats that Israel will be isolated internationally and face a "diplomatic tsunami" if it implements the sovereignty plan. But when it comes down to it, it is the contrarian Abbas and the old-guard Palestinian leadership, which follows him and his declarations and threats blindly, who will be isolated.
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They became old hat when they refused the generous offers made by the two Ehuds – Barak and Olmert, who agreed to a Palestinian state in over 90% of the West Bank, only to be spurned – rudely and with typical Palestinian audacity, it must be said – by someone who is not in any rush to end the conflict and establish an independent Palestinian state.
Abbas' outreach to Erdogan after the moderate Arab leaders gave him the cold shoulder shows just how incoherently and confusedly the Palestinian leadership manages its affairs in the absence of a clear diplomatic policy line. They prove over and over against that the old guard has failed in its main objective, to found an independent Palestinian state that will live peacefully alongside Israel.
It could be said that by their recalcitrance when it comes to any real peace talks that will lead to Palestinian independence and cure their national ills, Abbas and his people are clinging to a life preserver thrown to them by Erdogan, who envisions the return of the Ottoman Empire. But even Abbas knows that the rulers of Arab states won't agree to that, and he has already accepted that he will not go down in history as the man who created a Palestinian state with broad international backing. So the rais [president] is once again proving that the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity to bring an end to the conflict.
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