Abbas Looks to Arab League for Support as Kerry Time-table Winds Down

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will travel to Kuwait for an Arab League summit meeting this week, apparently seeking to return with support for his rejection of the Israel’s demand that it be recognized as a “Jewish state,” and with the 2002 Arab Initiative back in the forefront. With pressure mounting on Abbas to agree to an extension of the Kerry mandate which expires at the end of the month, the PA president apparently feels that re-focusing on the 2002 plan, whose tenets are virtually the same as his bargaining position in the Kerry talks, will provide the support he needs to press his case and to avoid being painted as the obstacle to progress. The Arab Initiative calls for pre-1967 borders, Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Palestine, and a right of return for families that left their homes in 1948. The Initiative goes farther, demanding that Israel withdraw from the Golan Heights as well. On Saturday, Abbas warned that all bets are off if Israel fails to release the fourth and final group of 104 prisoners it agreed to set free in order to jump start the Kerry talks. There has been speculation that the extremely unpopular gesture would be halted if there is no tangible progress in the peace process or if it believed that Abbas would accept the prisoners and then bolt from the talks. Also on the docket at the Arab League summit is tension between Qatar and three of its Gulf State neighbors and Egypt, all of whom accuse it of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.