Yet again, Mahmoud Abbas shows his extremism and intransigence in an interview and the Western world looks the other way.
In an expansive interview in Lebanon's Al-Joumhouria, Abbas reiterated the points he has made many times before - points that ensure that there will never be a Palestinian Arab state unless Israel allows itself to be destroyed.
Abbas reiterated that the so-called "right of return" is "sacred," and he is against resettlement of Palestinian Arabs in other Arab states. He indicated that Israel wanted Syrian refugees who went to Gaza to forfeit the "right" to move to Israel, and he refused (presumably, preferring them to rot in Syria if given the choice.)
He also said that if Jerusalem does not become part of "Palestine" then there will never be peace. He is representing Jerusalem as not just a Palestinian Arab issue but an issue for the entire Islamic and Arab worlds - you know, the people who ignored it when it was under their control.
On the topic of reaching out to American Jews to influence Israel, he stated that he felt that many Jews in America are not supporters of Netanyahu and that Palestinian Arabs "must speak with them in order for them to understand the Arab point of view, and I think that some of them began to understand that Israel is intransigent."
He admitted that the news from Arab countries has put the topic of Palestine on the backburner, but he bragged that even so he got 138 votes in the UN to declare "Palestine" a non-member state.
One bizarre answer he gave, to the question of why he is reluctant to use the word "resistance" in his written statements, is that "my authority as president finished, and I demand to conduct legislative and presidential elections." He seems to run away from questions he would rather not answer by falling back on the fiction that he wants elections, even though he is in the ninth year of his four year term.
When pressed, Abbas said he is against armed resistance, saying "I'm not ready to launch an absurd missile to destroy my country, we are with the peaceful resistance popular." "Popular resistance" includes Molotov cocktails and stones thrown through car windshields. Note again that his objection to terrorism is not moral but practical - because Israel responds with force to being attacked. If he thought he could achieve a state by murdering every Israeli civilian, the implication is that he would have no problem with that.
Abbas denied acting as a dictator. Keep in mind that he did his UN stunt without the backing of the PA and PLO government committees that according to their own laws must approve any moves like that. Not to mention his assaults on freedom of the press and freedom of expression. He said that the best proof that he is not a dictator is that he did not force the "prime minister" to stay on when he resigned. Of course, he appointed him to begin with, the way a dictator would.