Will Abbas confront Trump?
Ahead of the annual UN General Assembly meeting, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is planning a speech that some suspect will denounce Benjamin Netanyahu and anger Donald Trump.
The UN General Assembly will convene on Sept. 19, and the Palestinians have less than two weeks to formulate the tone of President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech, to be delivered Sept. 20. The speech has been piquing interest, not only because it might be the last UN speech of the Palestinian leader, who will be 83 years old next year, but also because of the possibility that he will declare a divorce from US President Donald Trump's administration despite the heavy price such a move appears to entail.
The Palestinians are disappointed in Trump, his special envoy Jason Greenblatt and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner. At times during the last few months, it seemed to the Palestinians that the Americans might surprise them and pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into a diplomatic process, but no longer. “After we talked in circles together, we’ve realized that [good] won’t come from them,” a senior Palestinian official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “Now the moment of truth has arrived.”
