The Palestinians received a welcome surprise this week from the Obama team: a major upgrade of their diplomatic status.
I suppose the ending of anti-Semitic incitement and the ending of Palestinian lobbying for boycotts of Israel were not even broached as a quid pro quo.
The PA has been seeking an upgrade in diplomatic relations ever since U.S. President Barack Obama took office last year. But after 18 months without progress, it was surprised to suddenly receive a letter from the State Department on Tuesday announcing that the U.S. had agreed. The letter was sent to Maen Areikat, who heads the PLO mission in Washington.
The Americans began seriously considering the upgrade two weeks ago as one of several steps it intends to take in an effort to entice Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas into direct talks with Israel. A week ago, American officials contacted both the Israeli embassy in Washington and the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem to see whether Israel would object to the upgrade, a senior Israeli official said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded that he had no objections.
A senior Palestinian official confirmed the upgrade, and stressed that this is more than a symbolic step. "This move will enable PLO officials and Palestinian diplomats to operate in Washington in an official and orderly manner," he said.
By the way, the Palestinian Authority flag is the same flag as the PLO flag so the flag that terrorists and murderers waved whenever Jews and others were murdered will now be flapping proudly in our nation's capital. The trade-off? Nothing. This is just a bonus for obstinacy and "resistance".
Amazing, for years the Israelis were directly dealing with the Palestinians. Then Barack Obama was elected and appeared ready and very willing to deliver Israel on a silver platter to the Palestinians and their Arab allies; thus the Palestinians saw no need to deign to lower themselves to deal directly with the Israelis (to be in the same room as them, to breathe the same air) and backed off, preferring to let Obama and his minions, such as George Mitchell, be their representatives.
Even Mahmoud Abbas (the Palestinian leader, who is actually ruling the West Bank, or at least a few square blocks of it - illegally) admitted this was his strategy; to let Obama, whose power and influence is greater than that of the Palestinians, to pressure Israel. He was playing a waiting game and he is winning. As an added fringe benefit, the diplomatic immunity extended to their representatives will theoretically allow them to engage in all sorts of nefarious activities without fear of prison time. Thus, they backed off and agreed to only indirect negotiations. Now, to entice them back into the same room with Israelis they get a reward for their behavior. Arabs are good traders when they deal with people like Barack Obama.
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