Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had expected more widespread, angry protests than eventually took place on the streets of Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus and Hebron following the Jan. 28 unveiling of the US plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace. He was hoping that such demonstrations would boost support for his leadership even as the dream of the Palestinian state he had promised his people faded away.

The plan presented by President Donald Trump represents a personal blow for Abbas. Since being elected president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 2005, Abbas has been promising Palestinians that peaceful methods would lead to a state, unlike the sometimes violent tactics advocated by his predecessor, Yasser Arafat. Despite Abbas' efforts, for the past 15 years, he has endured constant blows, with none of his promises to the Palestinians being realized. In fact, peace has never seemed farther from fruition, and the occupation never deeper or more humiliating. From the Palestinians' perspective, the Trump plan legitimizes Israel’s occupation of their territory and legalizes the settlements built on their land. In other words, Abbas’ quest for a peaceful road to an independent state has been a miserable failure.

According to a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey, headed by Khalil Shikaki, 64% of Palestinians support a return to armed struggle. The survey of 1,270 respondents in early February also found that most view Abbas’ dismissal of the Trump plan as the correct response, but at the same time also do not believe he will make good on his threats to revoke Palestinian recognition of Israel and halt security coordination with Israeli forces. In short, this means most Palestinians want an aggressive leadership, one that is not all talk, reflecting distrust of their leader at the darkest hour of the Palestinian struggle after the 1993 Oslo peace agreement. The findings reflect a realization that the dream of a Palestinian state is unachievable as long as Abbas remains in power.

Israel is of course monitoring the Palestinian response to the Trump plan with great interest to see how it is affecting the already shaky ground on which Abbas stands. On the one hand, Israeli officials found it encouraging that senior Palestinian officials were unable to inspire people to turn out for mass protests and clashes with Israeli troops with the exception of several localized demonstrations. On the other hand, there is grave concern that Abbas, at the age of 84, is nearing the end of his political road. His potential successors are not yet sharpening their swords, but are closing ranks within their various camps and taking advantage of Palestinian despair over the lack of a diplomatic horizon.