In a recent interview with the Bloomberg news agency, Mohammad Mustafa, a senior adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Palestinian leader was "temporarily" waiving his demand that Israel freeze settlement construction beyond the Green Line as a precondition to resuming peace talks. He was sending a message to Washington, not Jerusalem, since what is of the greatest interest to Abbas right now is fostering a relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, not reviving the peace process, for which he has no intention of changing his basic positions. Mustafa's use of the word "temporarily" must be viewed as a provisional concession to appease the Americans, and one that does not obligate the Palestinians to change their stance on Israeli settlement construction or other issues. Meanwhile, it has been announced that a Palestinian delegation is slated to meet with officials in the Trump administration in an attempt to reach initial understandings before the president issues an official statement about launching his initiative for the "ultimate" peace agreement. The Palestinians' supposed flexibility should also be examined in light of what is happening in the Sunni Muslim camp over the Qatar blockade, particularly in the context of the united front between the U.S. and the Sunni camp, led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which was formally announced during Trump's visit to Riyadh. Abbas and his advisers are beginning to realize they will have to make an effort to conform to this new reality rather than be seen as an obstructionist factor. So the Palestinians will probably keep up the temporary freeze on actions against Israel in the international arena and continue to make skin-deep decisions about anti-Israel incitement in the Palestinian media. Israel is also preparing for the moment when the American administration translates its declarations on the Israeli-Palestinian issue into action, and an Israeli delegation is preparing to leave for Washington. Israel is not oblivious to the ramifications of the new American-Arab love affair and it will spare no effort to be included in its results and benefit from them. While Trump's check certainly won't bounce, it is -- as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pointed out -- not a blank one. A wise, responsible approach demands that Israel not make the mistake of biting off more than it can chew. If the change of heart the Palestinians are exhibiting had been genuine, Israel would have welcomed the signs of true good will by the other party. But the chances of that are slim. Anyone who needs proof of that should read the report in Haaretz last week that included documents proving that in 2014, Abbas torpedoed attempts by then-President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to promote the peace process. The fact that the documents have resurfaced now is important in terms of the moves expected from Washington. Obama's and Kerry's initiatives were two-pronged. The Americans formulated a rather balanced document that addressed the core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that, according to various sources, Israel more or less accepted, but Abbas rejected it outright. As a result, Kerry's team then proceeded to draft a new document, less balanced and more biased in favor of the Palestinians' demands, particularly on the issue of Jerusalem, which was not coordinated with Israel. Kerry hoped the revised document would meet with Palestinian approval, but Abbas simply ignored it. Trump will discover that his hopes for the "ultimate" peace he hopes to achieve will be dashed on the rocks of Palestinian evasion and recalcitrance.
