Shimon Peres, the Israeli president who will conclude a seven-year term next month as the most popular politician in Israel, told US President Barack Obama on June 25 that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was the best Palestinian partner Israel has ever had. The following day, Minister of Economy and Trade Naftali Bennett lambasted Peres, calling his statement “delusional” while dubbing the Palestinian president an “archterrorist.”

All the while, chief negotiator of the now defunct negotiations, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, continues at every turn to lavish praise on Abbas. She even declared that she will continue to meet with him despite a prohibition to do so since the negotiations between the two parties were discontinued.

Avigdor Liberman, the Israeli foreign minister, publicly kept stating that the Palestinian president was not a partner, because peace with the Palestinians could not be made at this time and the only way to break through the deadlock was to start a regional peace process between Israel and the moderate Sunni states.

To all this one may add a rare and surprising statement by Israel’s President-elect Reuven Rivlin, who will take office next month. Known as a right-wing ideologue who opposes a two-state solution, Rivlin declared on June 25 that he would not hesitate to meet with Abbas, noting the need to find ways to break through the stalemate in terms of the relations between the two peoples.