At Obama’s US-Africa press conference today, he said he has not sympathy for Hamas but praised Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), the leader of the Palestinian Authority, as sincere in his desire for peace and claimed that the PA has recognized the State of Israel:
And secretary Kerry has been in consistent contact with all parties involved. We expect we will continue to be trying to work as diligently as we can to move the process forward.
It is also going to need to involve the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank. I have no sympathy for Hamas. I have great sympathy for the work done in cooperation with Israel and the international authority by the Palestinian Authority. They’ve shown themselves to be responsible. They have recognized Israel. They are prepared to move forward, to arrive at a two-state solution. I think Abu Mazen is sincere in his desire for peace.
But they have also been weakened, I think, during this process. The populations in the West Bank may have also lost confidence, or lost a sense of hope in how to move forward. We have to rebuild that as well. The delegation that is leading the Palestinian negotiators, and my hope is we will be engaging with them to try to move what has been a very tragic situation over the last several weeks into a more constructive path.
Obama praises the Palestinian Authority and Mahmoud Abbas while claiming to have no sympathy for Hamas. But shouldn’t we remind Obama that the PA just joined a unity government with Hamas and that this move infuriated Netanyahu and ensured that the peace process was dead? Just last year Abbas claimed that there was no difference between the ‘peaceful’ policies of Hamas and the PA as he questioned why Hamas was labeled a terrorist organization — an organization that has written into its charter the annihilation of the Jews and the Jewish state.
Also, the PA has NOT recognized the State of Israel, as Obama claims. Here’s video from just over 4 months ago where Abbas is adamant that the PA will not recognize the State of Israel. This is the one overriding thing that has been hampering negotiations, that the PA refuses to acknowledge the state of Israel.