The End of the Abbas Era and Netanyahu’s Pivot to the Middle East

When Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN that he believes in “two states for two peoples based on mutual recognition,” his real intended audience was the Arab states, argues Haviv Rettig Gur. And for good reason. While the Palestinian leadership remains wedded to the two equally failed strategies of terrorism (Hamas) and international isolation of Israel (Mahmoud Abbas), Arab rulers are turning elsewhere. Although still paying lip service to the longstanding mantra that peace with Israel has to wait upon Palestinian statehood, they are also showing readiness to ignore it. As Gur amplifies: