Despite the outrage among the Palestinian leadership over the Trump peace plan and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rush to annex parts of the West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has thus far withstood the pressure on him from all directions and does not appear eager to cancel security coordination with Israel. The current assessment is that as long as there are no wide-scale or violent clashes between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Palestinians, and not many casualties resulting from impending demonstrations, he will continue to be able to withstand the pressure. For that to happen, however, Israel must exert intense efforts to assist him.
There is a great paradox when it comes to Israel’s attitude toward Abbas and the Palestinian Authority on all matters pertaining to security coordination and the official attitude toward the “refusenik from the Mukataa,” as Abbas some Israeli sources call him. One can also not overstate the sense of loathing for Abbas among the leaders of the Israeli right, starting with Netanyahu and including former Foreign Minister and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman as well as Naftali Bennett, the current defense minister. Bennett's is an interesting story.
The Trump plan presents Bennett with a political dilemma in terms of his relationship to his electoral base. He cannot support the plan, because it includes the creation of a Palestinian state. This holds true even if the plan’s benefits to Israel — including the annexation of territory and the settlements — make it a sweet deal as far as he is concerned. On the other hand, as defense minister, he has to support the defense establishment in backing Abbas. In other words, he must assist the subject of his loathing so Abbas doesn’t succumb to his adversaries, who are pressuring him to take a bold step and cancel security coordination altogether.
An Israeli security source who spoke with Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity said the defense establishment's “backing” of Abbas has many beneficial features. For example, it results in a significant reduction in points of friction between IDF soldiers and Palestinians at West Bank checkpoints; it has reduced to almost zero the number of IDF incursions into West Bank Area A (under Palestinian civil control, an area where the IDF usually enters to search for suspects on its wanted list); and it has resulted in instructions to IDF forces to show added caution in handling Palestinian demonstrations.
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