How Netanyahu pushed Erekat into a corner

It was no idle threat. Saeb Erekat really did resign his position as head of the Palestinian negotiating team in the talks with Israel. But American pressure reasserted itself, and he was forced to withdraw his resignation. Erekat and his colleague Mohammad Shtayyeh have come under increasing pressure over the past weeks, both from Fatah and Palestinian public opinion in the West Bank, which demanded that they withdraw from the talks and announce that they have reached a dead end. The climax came last week, Oct. 30, when 26 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli prisons.

The release of those prisoners, most of them considered icons of Palestinian resistance against Israel, was intended to garner public support for senior Palestinian Authority officials in general and Palestinian Chairman Abu Mazen in particular. Abu Mazen really needs that public support, because his return to the negotiating table is perceived as a humiliating surrender to American pressure. The Palestinian Authority insisted that Israel freeze construction in the settlements, so that a significant achievement would be reached before the talks began. In the end, it was decided to compromise on the prisoner release.

The return of those Palestinian prisoners from the Israeli prisons could have been considered a major achievement too. However, on the very day that Abu Mazen, Erekat, Shtayyeh, and other senior Fatah officials were getting ready for a festive reception honoring the prisoners, Israel announced the construction of 1,500 new housing units across the Green Line. The sole purpose of the prisoner release was to strengthen the chairman of the Palestinian Authority and get the Palestinian public behind him. Instead, Abu Mazen became a laughingstock before that very public. The Palestinian media went so far as to accuse Erekat of knowing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intended to announce the new construction in the West Bank, turning him and his people into collaborators with Israel.

Although there was absolutely no basis for these accusations, they spread like wildfire among a public in search of some logical explanation for the existence of negotiations under the current circumstances. This left the heads of the Palestinian negotiating team with no choice. If they wanted to stop being labeled as collaborators — the worst possible insult in the Palestinian Authority. They had to take extreme measures and completely excise themselves from the talks with Israel. According to Palestinian sources, Erekat realized that just sitting with the Israelis under the current conditions did more than just turn him into the subject of Palestinian scorn. It actually put his life at risk. After all, he has been called a traitor on more than one occasion.