Abbas Secret Plan: UN Must Force Israel To Withdraw To 1967 Borders Or He Will Go To ICC

In a classical example of Palestinian self-delusional thinking, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has devised a “secret plan.”

His officials have revealed (on conditions of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on behalf of the PA) that Abbas will ask the UN Security Council to set a deadline for Israel to withdraw from lands captured in 1967, in order to make way for a Palestinian state.

If they don’t get approval for the resolution, they will follow the standard procedure for negotiations with Israel. The Palestinian policy can best be defined as: “Agree to all our terms, or else!”

In the past, that usually meant violence. That was the basis of the first and second intifadas, both of which failed in their objectives. Now, Abbas has discovered a new weapon with which to berate Israel. It’s the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague, The Netherlands.

He is threatening that, if Israel and the UNSC do not accede to his demands, he will ask the court to investigate Israel for war crimes, following the current war in Gaza.

He is ignoring the views of his representatives in the UN who have pointed out that such action would lay Hamas wide open to the same investigation, and its grounds for defense are much shakier. The mere action of firing rockets with no guidance system, which can then randomly kill anyone, is a de-facto war crime.

In any event, neither Israel nor the United States, for that matter, are currently signatories to the court convention, so the court has no jurisdiction. In addition, since Abbas is not the head of a legally constituted state, he has no standing in the court.

Possibly, Abbas is just being devious and his real target isn’t Israel at all, but Hamas. Were Hamas to vanish from the face of the Earth tomorrow, it’s touch-and-go who would be happier, Abbas or Netanyahu.

Abbas was interviewed recently on the Egyptian TV station Balad during his visit to Cairo. He said that he would discuss his plan with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestinian leaders in Ramallah. He added, “It will be an unconventional solution, but I’m not going to declare war on Israel, I have diplomatic and political solutions.”

Unsurprisingly, he stated that he did not expect the U.S. to accept his new initiative.

So, why would Israel?