Livni reveals visiting 11 Arab countries while Abbas prepares to face the Arab pressure

Reliable sources close to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expect him to face an Arab criticism campaign during the scheduled meeting of the Arab League next Wednesday in Cairo due to the decisions he made recently, in light of Israel’s evasion from its duties in the peace process, by applying to join the international conventions. This was revealed by the Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni, who said she visited Arab countries 11 times in 50 days and received promises that the Arabs will not give money to the Palestinians or the city of Jerusalem.

In Ramallah, Abbas’ headquarters received several calls from Arab rulers repeatedly asking him to take his time and wait before making any decisions that may, according to them, “end the peace process”. This upset Abbas and drove him to make the decision to go to the UN without informing any of the Arab parties concerned with the peace process, including the countries who are members of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee.

Rai Alyoum newspaper reported, quoting one of the attendees in the last Palestinian Authority (PA) meeting during which the decision to go to the UN was made, that Abbas will face the expected pressure from the Arabs (who will not provide their promised safety net) with more pressure, perhaps in the form of public criticism from some of the PA officials. Abbas will inform the Arabs that he has nothing to lose in order to prevent any potential pressure stemming from the US administration’s demands to the Arabs.

Until recently, the Palestinian president had hoped that the Arab countries would move towards pressuring the US administration to change their attitudes toward the political process by stopping its complete and blind support of Israel, but he felt very embarrassed at the Kuwait summit held recently, which did not result in an official statement (due to pressure from the US). Instead, the Arab leaders merely made a declaration, which does not meet the demands of the Palestinians, because it is not official and does not strongly support the Palestinians.

The Arab League will meet next Wednesday at the League’s headquarters in Cairo at the request of Abbas to discuss the future of the peace process in light of the developments that occurred due to Israel’s termination of the process of releasing the fourth batch of veteran prisoners, which was followed by Abbas’ decision to sign the application to join 15 international treaties.

As announced, Abbas will demand the implementation of the Arab decision to find a “safety net” to help the Palestinians in the event that Western countries fail to commit to the financial aid they have pledged to the Palestinians.

However, in truth Abbas will issue during his speech to the attendees a warning that he can no longer tolerate the “Arab pressure” and that he requires more serious positions in support of the Palestinian cause, especially since the Arab network has not fulfilled its obligations to him when he was subjected to a financial blockade by Israel and the US administration in December of 2012, as a result of obtaining “observer state” status for Palestine.

Reports published yesterday stated Abbas will give the Arab foreign ministers a 48 hour deadline to study the Arab resolutions, which must be firm with regards to negotiations.

The most prominent source of Abbas’ fears is the information revealed by the Israeli minister Tzipi Livni, who is responsible for the negotiations portfolio. She said Israel will besiege Abbas until he gives in to their conditions and recognises Israel as a “Jewish state”.

She also said that the Arab states made a commitment to Israel not to pay Abbas the money and revealed that she visited Arab countries 11 times in 50 days.

Livni also said in a press statement that Jerusalem is the capital of the “State of Israel” and that the Arab and Islamic countries do not object to this.

She added that when Israel objected to the Arabs paying billions of dollars to the city of Jerusalem, the Arabs made a commitment and have not paid a penny.