Published: 24 September 2018
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Abbas bluster at UN isn’t what should worry Israel (Times of Israel)
AVI ISSACHAROFF
On Thursday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will give a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York that several of his associates have promised will be “extraordinary.” Others have predicted a dramatic, even historic, announcement.
Abbas’s associates, however, have cried wolf more than once in recent years, announcing dramatic speeches that turned out to contain no particularly unusual statements.
What should bother Israel at this stage is not so much the content of his speech in New York in a few days’ time, but the actual measures that Abbas is planning for the near future.
More than one source has said that he has given Hamas, via Egypt, an explicit ultimatum: Agree to transfer responsibility for security in the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority, including handing over “the weapons of resistance,” by early October. If not, Abbas will stop the transfer of PA funds to the Gaza Strip.
Hamas says indirect ceasefire talks with Israel halted, protests to escalate (Times of Israel)
Gaza official blames impasse on rival Palestinian Authority; one killed as 1,000 Palestinians gather along border for night time riot, clashing with IDF soldiers
Spain to push for European recognition of Palestine: we may go it alone if that fails (Haaretz)
The Spanish government will promote a European move to recognize Palestine as an independent state, Spain's foreign minister said Thursday, adding that if the move fails the government will consider a Spain-only recognition.
Only Abbas able to make peace: former Israel PM Olmert (France24)
Photo: Abbas addresses the UN in 2012 (Richard Drew/AP)
