Abbas kills peace process

World Jewish Digest

Dead as a doornail. In the waste basket of history. Dead on arrival.

Whatever cliche you want to use, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas officially killed peace talks Wednesday by unilaterally rejecting any recognition of a Jewish state. He was backed up his his Arab League colleagues unanimously.

This means a few things. First, the Arabs have not given up their dream of destroying Israel. Recognizing the Jewish state is a simple confidence-building gesture but they won't do it because they don't believe the Jewish state should exist.

Two, any Israeli government that agrees to a peace agreement after a statement like this will surely lose power and its right to govern.

Three, this is the latest evidence that all of President Obama's foreign policy initiatives have failed. One can not point to a major area of foreign policy where Obama has seen a success. Six years after winning the presidency, U.S. relations are worse off with Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Israel and our former allies in Europe's east. They are only better with Iran, which still has not given up its desire to destroy both the U.S. and Israel.

Which is part of the reason Abbas sees no reason at all to accede to American demands. A weak president who wishes to withdraw from the world stage means that new alliances will be formed, likely to Israel's detriment. Obama is not only a disaster for Israel; he's a disaster for the world.

posted by Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg