Israel-UAE agreement a positive step toward a broader solution with Jordanian cooperation
The Palestinian leadership’s rejection of peace offers reflects its own rejection of a Palestinian state. The late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat once joked that the Israelis want a Palestinian state more than the Palestinians do. He wasn’t wrong. The Palestinian leadership is not interested in an independent state because they know that the Palestinian government would likely collapse and that, in a worst-case scenario, a brutal civil war could ensue. Therefore, the status quo of the Israeli occupation is convenient for them, as they continue to receive money from foreign sources, security from the Israelis, and a scapegoat for the absence of peace.