Amid an impasse in the peace process, the Palestinian Authority is working towards “internationalizing” the conflict with Israel by lobbying foreign governments to devise a new multi-lateral mechanism for negotiations. This approach was adopted after PA boss Mahmoud Abbas imposed a boycott on American officials in the wake of President Donald Trump’s recognition in December of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital—a move the Palestinian leader said effectively disqualified Washington from its historical role of “honest broker” between the two sides. Now, the PA is employing another new tactic: namely, calling on United Nations members states to introduce entry bans on Israelis living in Jewish communities in the West Bank. In this respect, PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki on Wednesday urged the notoriously anti-Israel UN Human Rights Council to do more to “confront the Israeli colonial settlement system,” including barring Jews from international travel. He also called on the body to fully publish its so-called “blacklist” of global entities that conduct trade with Israelis living across the 1967 borders. In turn, the U.S., by contrast, slammed the UNHRC for its biased treatment of Israel, with envoy Mary Catherine Phee highlighting Agenda 7, in particular, which mandates that alleged Israeli human rights abuses against Palestinians be debated at each session. For her part, Israeli delegate Aviva Raz Shechter blamed Palestinian anti-Semitism for persistent terror attacks against Israel.
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