Abbas Paving the Way to Turn West Bank into an Islamist State

by Khaled Abu Toameh • March 20, 2015 at 5:00 am

Abbas has chosen to align himself with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, thus facilitating these two organizations' dreams of taking over the West Bank. These two radical groups seek to destroy Israel and are opposed to any peace process in the Middle East.

These threats are primarily aimed at getting the international community into providing the Palestinian Authority with more financial and political support.

This alliance could also result in renewed terrorist attacks against Israel, because Hamas and Islamic Jihad will interpret Abbas's anti-Israel moves and rhetoric as a green light for such actions.

Abbas's rapprochement with Hamas and Islamic Jihad will only confirm the fears of many Israelis that the West Bank will fall onto the hands of Islamists once Israel withdraws from that area.

The two-state solution started the day Hamas kicked Abbas out of the Gaza Strip and turned it into an Islamist emirate. In the end, the Palestinians got two states that are even at war with each other.

Best Frenemies? Mahmoud Abbas (r) meets with the Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal in Qatar, July 20, 2014. (Image source: Handout from the Palestinian Authority President's Office/Thaer Ghanem)

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO leadership in the West Bank are once again threatening to halt security coordination with Israel -- this time in protest over the victory of Binyamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party in Israel's March 17 general elections.

The latest threat was made during a meeting of PLO leaders, headed by Abbas in Ramallah, to discuss the outcome of the Israeli elections.

At the meeting, the PLO leaders decided to ask the commanders of the PA security forces in the West Bank to come up with a "detailed plan" to stop security coordination with Israel.

Halting security coordination with Israel means that Abbas and the PLO would be paving the way for Hamas to extend its control from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. With that, the Palestinians would have another Islamist state that seeks to eliminate Israel.