Trump Must Exert As Much Pressure on Abbas As Obama Exerted on Netanyahu

Yesterday, President Trump received Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority. While praising the PA security cooperation efforts with Israel, Trump did take the PA to task with regard to inciting violence against Israel:


But there cannot be lasting peace unless the Palestinian leaders speak in a unified voice against incitement to violate -- and violence and hate.  There's such hatred.  But hopefully there won't be such hatred for very long.  All children of God must be taught to value and respect human life, and condemn all of those who target the innocent.


This is a good start. It is certainly an improvement over President Obama who didn't have boo to say about Palestinian incitement when he visited with Abbas in the PA in March 2013.


But Trump is going to have to exert a great deal more pressure on Abbas. In fact, he will need exert as much pressure on Abbas as President Obama exerted on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.


Trump will need to call upon Congress to withhold funding from the PA. Trump should also question Abbas' very legitimacy. After all, his four year term expired in 2009. The Obama Administration was too busy vilifying Israel to care. But that doesn't mean the Trump Administration should continue to recognize Abbas as President of the Palestinian Authority.


Of course, the risk in questioning Abbas legitimacy is if there is any potential successor who seeks accommodation with Israel. Such a leader is likely to be labeled a collaborator and not destined to have a long life.


But this is a fight worth having. In this case, Trump is right. There cannot be a lasting peace so long as Palestinian media, mosques, schools and civil society at large extol violence against Israel. The question is if Trump will see this through.