As PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) maintains his defiant position of entering into a unity government with Hamas, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu struggles to persuade the international community not to recognize the new government. Abbas signals the new government will be formed in Ramallah on Monday, 4 Sivan 5774. Realizing he has nothing to lose and much to gain, Abu Mazen has defies White House and US State Department pressure too as he is about to create new facts on the ground in the Mideast.

At the start of weekly cabinet meeting PM Netanyahu called on the international community “not to run to recognize the Palestinian government of which Hamas is a part and which rests on Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel and the international community must not embrace it. This will not strengthen peace; it will strengthen terrorism.”

While Israel is threatening to hold back the transfer of tax funds to the PA in the amount of $100 million, the PA leader is not backing down and he told supporters he will take appropriate action. He points out the money is the PA’s and not some Israeli aid package and the PA will not tolerate such action by Jerusalem. Abbas is aware that despite the hard-line statements from the Prime Minister’s Office, for as long as Yesh Atid and its left-wing political hashkafa remains a senior coalition partner the Israeli retaliatory response will be limited at best. The leader of the junior coalition The Movement party, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni already blames the prime minister and his right-wing coalition member Bayit Yehudi for sabotaging her peace-making efforts as head of the Israeli delegation of negotiators with the PA.

Well-aware of the magic words that will bring additional international support, Abu Mazen tells the international community that the new unity government will recognize Israel and denounce violence and acts of terror. The new government partnered with Hamas will recognize international agreements, the PA leaders announced, moving ahead at a confident pace in defiance of Israel and the US.

Israel built Abu Mazen, legitimizing the terrorist who funded the Munich Olympic massacre by calling him “Israel’s peace partner”. http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/19453/abu-mazen-to-run-for-reelection.html While the right-wing opposed the Oslo Agreement signed with Yasser Arafat YS”VZ in 1993, Israel turned the arch terrorist into a diplomat as well, resulting in the USA removing him from its terror list.

Now Arafat’s successor, the man who wrote his doctoral dissertation denying the Holocaust is showing his true colors, turning his back on Israel to advance his agenda in the international community.

Despite America’s role as a permanent Security Council member, Abbas is aware that for him and Hamas, the UN is a safe haven filled with friends and allies that will embrace his new unity government with open arms, leaving opponents to decide what their next step will be.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)