The mood in the West Bank city of Ramallah these days is one of doom and gloom. It seems that all diplomatic doors have closed as US President Donald Trump has decided to take the Israeli government’s side and is apparently guided mostly by domestic considerations. The European Union is relatively isolated by the United States and is mostly concerned with the cohesion of the EU after Brexit. The sweeping majority at the United Nations General Assembly against the US’ Jerusalem proclamation did not produce any tangible results. The diplomatic process is hopelessly deadlocked.

According to a senior PLO official close to President Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president is losing hope that a diplomatic route could lead to statehood in the foreseeable future. Still, Abbas keeps communicating with his main Arab partners — Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia — on various initiatives, such as the recognition of a Palestinian state under occupation by the UN General Assembly. Speaking bitterly, the official admitted that while the Palestinians can collect a large number of diplomatic victories at the UN, on the ground there is only one process taking place — a process that includes the enlargement of Israeli settlements, the deepening of the occupation and a growing economic annexation.

The official told Al-Monitor that he took part in several high-level Fatah deliberations on a strategy for 2018. Abbas has repeatedly instructed not to engage in violence against Israel, but this option has not been taken off the table in any of the deliberations. In one of those meetings, the option of closer unity with Hamas was seriously contemplated. The participants of the meeting argued that with the increasingly frustrated Palestinian public opinion, it is essential to demonstrate greater Palestinian unity. The Palestinian source believes that moving closer to Hamas would enhance the possibility of a new cycle of violence in the Gaza Strip and possibly also in the West Bank.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Palestinian source said that 2018 must be a year of decisions. “Either a realistic diplomatic route to statehood will be launched by the United States, or we will be forced to return sooner rather than later to an armed struggle for independence. Otherwise another decade will pass without Palestinian statehood, and we will be forgotten by the international community.” He then expressed Palestinian disappointment with the international community and the Arab world.