Palestinians: We Cannot Accept Anything from Trump

by Khaled Abu Toameh • November 22, 2018 at 5:00 am

According to the reports, the White House "peace team," led by senior adviser Jared Kushner and special envoy Jason Greenblatt, has been working on the plan for two years -- and President Trump wants it published between December 2018 and February 2019.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his representatives in Ramallah have radicalized their people against the Israeli government to a point where meeting or doing business with any Israeli official is tantamount to treason. This is why Abbas does not and cannot return to the negotiating table with Israel and also why Abbas cannot change his position toward the Trump administration.
Wasel Abu Yousef, a senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official, said this week that the Palestinians were moving on three levels to thwart Trump's upcoming plan: rallying worldwide support for the Palestinian position against the plan, uniting all Palestinians, and opposing attempts to normalize relations between the Arab countries and Israel.

In a recent speech demonstrating the degree of anti-US sentiments, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the Trump administration "liars" and boasted that the Palestinians were the first to stand against and combat President Trump's "deal of the century." Pictured: Abbas delivers a speech at the United Nations on September 27, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

Hardly a day passes without the leadership of the Palestinian Authority (PA) affirming its strong opposition to US President Donald Trump's yet-to-be-announced Middle East peace plan, also referred to as the "deal of the century." Palestinian leaders have convinced their people that Trump is the worst person on the face of the earth and that no one should be doing business with him.

The Palestinian Authority is not the only Palestinian party that continues to voice its opposition to the upcoming peace plan. No Palestinian group or individual has come out in favor the plan, although no one in the Middle East seems to have seen it or knows anything about its details. Trump has united the Palestinians in a way that no Palestinian or Arab has been able to do since the beginning of the Hamas-Fatah war 11 years ago.

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Turkey Stabilizing Libya? Think Again.

by Uzay Bulut • November 22, 2018 at 4:00 am

"The chaotic situation enables the emergence of enclaves of terror, inspired by the ideology of ISIS and al-Qaeda. The world should make sure that Libya does not turn into another pre-2001 Afghanistan-like state on the doorstep of Europe." — Dr. Mordechai Kedar and Dr. Dan Gottlieb.
"Since there is almost no power on the ground in Libya with which the EU can come to an agreement to stop the influx of illegal migrants from the sub-Saharan states through Libya to Europe, this migration route will probably continue to be a gateway for many more thousands of Africans into Europe." — Dr. Mordechai Kedar and Dr. Dan Gottlieb.
The forging of alliances among the key players in the Mediterranean -- such as Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel and the Balkan states -- is equally crucial in the endeavor to stabilize Libya. Ankara's questionable ties with the violent Islamist forces in Libya, however, demonstrate that Turkey currently has little, if anything, to contribute to stabilization.

Libya has been in turmoil since 2011, when an armed revolt during the "Arab Spring" led to the ouster and death of dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Pictured: Anti-Gaddafi rebels take positions while fighting government troops on March 9, 2011 near Ras Lanuf, Libya. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Turkey was miffed. A Turkish delegation, including Vice President Fuat Oktay, stormed out of a recent two-day international conference in Palermo, Italy, held to deal with the crisis in Libya, on the grounds that it was not included in an unofficial meeting.

Claiming that Turkey was purposely being "excluded" from the meeting between eastern Libyan military officer Khalifa Haftar and other conference participants, Oktay released the following written statement:

"Unfortunately, the international community has not acted as one body today. Through a last-minute fait accompli, some people exploited the Italian hosting and intervened in the process one-sidedly...

"Unlike others, we are open to wider dialogue with all Libyan and regional actors...It is impossible for conferences like these to contribute to the process without Turkey's participation..."

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