Will Abbas hand the key to Israel?

Mahmoud Abbas has threatened the Israelis by saying he plans to hand them the key to the West Bank following the Israeli parliamentary elections, so long as they continue to reject the two-state solution. In doing so, the Israelis would then be left with the true price of occupation rather than simply collecting taxes from the Palestinian Authority, as they are doing at the moment. Now we are expecting Abbas to actually hand over the West Bank to Israel and end the Oslo Accords he signed 20 years ago, on the basis of which the Palestinian Authority was established, because empty threats are harmful and of no benefit. What made him think of such a historically unprecedented initiative is the fact that the Palestinian Authority is both confident and frustrated at the same time. Palestine has finally been awarded seat at the United Nations as a non-member observer state, but this remains a symbolic victory. On the other hand, the Palestinian Authority is incapable of improving the conditions of the people it is responsible for, at least in accordance with the Oslo Accords, for it is living off international aid and the customs revenues that Israel is supposed to pay. Yet aid is no longer enough and Israel is withholding its customs revenues, while the world stands by and watches. The Palestinian project is also in a state of political and financial bankruptcy and has reached a dead end owing to Israel’s intransigence over the two-state solution. If Abbas hands the key to Israel, the Israeli government will be legally responsible for administering and feeding two and a half million Palestinians. This will not be an easy task and anti-occupation uprisings, which had previously ceased because of the presence of Palestinian police force, would surely resume. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who may remain in office after the election, cynically said that Abbas is threatening to disband the Palestinian Authority because he is losing on the ground in the West Bank while his rival Hamas is expanding. Yet, Netanyahu knows that disbanding the Palestinian Authority would mean an international intervention because the Oslo Accords, signed in 1993, came with US sponsorship. Therefore, both the United States and the international community would have to bear the consequences of the dissolution of the Palestinian Authority. However, Abbas needs to make sure that Hamas will not take advantage of the situation to seize power, maybe even in coordination with Israel, like what is currently happening in Gaza where Israeli strikes are only launched when Hamas is unable to control Salafi and jihadist factions, and a truce becomes the only way out. We expect Abbas not to retract his threats at the last minute in return for some empty promises because everyone is now waiting for the decisive moment. It is no longer a matter of paying the salaries of Palestinian Authority employees, nor is it about getting more aid. Israel is now confident it can expand its settlements in the occupied territories as it pleases, and nobody cares as long as the Palestinian Authority is preoccupied with the day-to-day problems of its citizens. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.