While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to elbow and jostle his way to the front row, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas was accorded a prominent place at the forefront of the anti-terrorism march in Paris on Jan. 11. According to a report on Israel's Channel 2 TV station, Abbas received a treatment reserved for "kings and presidents" only because of the Israeli prime minister’s insistence on attending the march. The message Paris conveyed to Jerusalem was that if the prime minister decided to attend the march despite being an unwelcome guest, the hosts would make sure to put the PA’s president in the limelight, which is precisely what happened. Abbas marched in the first row of leaders alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel and his French host, President Francois Hollande, as if he were the leader of a great country.
Ostensibly, the Palestinians have every reason to be pleased with the French display of support. The historic picture published all over by the world media is another step in the effort to cement Abbas’ international standing as one of the legitimate leaders among the nations of the world, which may help him secure a majority in the UN Security Council in recognizing a Palestinian state.
For months, Europe has been embracing Abbas — an embrace that has only been getting stronger. Although the Palestinians experienced failure on Dec. 31 when the Security Council rejected their proposal to force Israel to end the conflict and establish a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, PA officials are nonetheless convinced that 2015 will be the year of their independence from Israel. They believe that international support for a Palestinian state will only increase.
The honor that was accorded to Abbas notwithstanding, the Palestinians might also stand to lose from the recent developments in Paris. They are concerned that if the wave of Islamic terrorism continues to strike at the capitals of Europe, the continent’s priorities will change. European leaders will have to spend their time defending their countries against al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) cells while allaying tensions with their local Muslim communities. Consequently, they will not have the time to deal with the State of Palestine and the problems generated by recognizing it.
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