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“Abbas ‘going for Broke’ in Talks With Obama”
by Arutz sheva - Tzvi Ben Gadalyuhu   
May 28th, 2009

 Abbas ’Going for Broke’
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas plans to pitch a pan-Arab peace when he meets Thursday with President Obama, who has hopes that a “Land for Peace” agreement will end the 100-year-old Zionist-Arab conflict.

Abbas, who has been completely dependent on the United States to remain in power, tried to smooth the path to the White House Wednesday night by saying he will not insist that “five million foreign Arabs flood Israel.” The Saudi 2002 Peace Plan provides for the immigration of foreign Arabs who claim ancestry in Israel.

However, Abbas did not say how many Arabs he would insist be allowed into Israel. He added that he is not trying to “destroy Israel,” which would cease to have a Jewish majority if it allowed a large influx of non-Jews.

Earlier this month, Abbas rejected Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s demand that the PA recognize Israel as a Jewish state. He also turned down Netanyahu’s offer for an immediate resumption of direct talks between the PA and Israel because the Israeli leader refuses to immediately accept the principle of creating a PA state on the land of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

Faced with the growing unlikelihood that the PA and Israel will find common ground between them, and forced to prove to the Western world that he is sincere for peace, Abbas will adopt President Obama’s idea of a regional peace, the Associated Press reported. An overall agreement would also include the Golan Heights, which according to the Saudi plan would fall under Syrian sovereignty.

Jordanian King Abdullah II, who a month ago was the first Arab leader to visit President Obama, said Israel’s acceptance of the Saudi 2002 Plan offer would be met by recognition of the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which includes Iran.

The Saudi Peace plan offered recognition only by the 22-member Arab League, but Amr Mussa, secretary of the League, declared that the monarch’s remarks were “misunderstood.” He added that the OIC is not prepared to wave the Israeli flag over their capitals as President Obama has suggested.

Most major media have pointed to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s position on Judea and Samaria and his insistence that the PA recognize Israel as a “Jewish state” as stumbling blocks to the Obama push for peace. Neither the Obama administration nor the mass media have mentioned the failure of the PA to meet previous American demands, such as halting incitement against Israel.

Most of the PA demands, including Israeli surrender of the Old City, have been accepted by the Obama administration. Abbas, in an effort to show that he is not the reason for lack of progress towards creating a new PA state, may have to back down on his refusal to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Abbas will have the support of U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell, the president’s personal representative to monitor talks between Israel and the PA. Mitchell met with officials of the Israeli government in Britain this week, but no details of the talks were revealed except that Iran was on the agenda.

President Obama has included the threat of a nuclear Iran in his push for regional peace and will discuss it during his visit to Saudi Arabia and Egypt next week. The Arab nations, like Israel and the Western world, fear that Iran might use nuclear capability to dominate the Muslim world.

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