Should President Trump make good on his campaign promise to relocate America’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas and his representatives have threatened violence, an end to the PA’s recognition of and security cooperation with the Jewish state, strained U.S. relations with Arab governments, and even unrest across the Arab and Muslim world. Pinḥas Inbari suspects Abbas might not be able to follow through on his threats:

[As an influential London-based Palestinian journalist points out], Abbas would never jeopardize the existence of the PA, and he has already looked the other way on other serious matters. One-hundred-and-fifty families of top PA bureaucrats rely on the salaries he is paying them. Abbas cannot tell his underlings to organize and participate in protests against moving the embassy, lest the demonstrations turn against him.

[As for Arab governments’ support for Abbas, his chief negotiator Saeb] Erekat said in an interview that “with all respect to the Arab capitals, Jerusalem is more important than all the capitals combined.” It is hard to believe that any Arab country would take this insult to pride in its own capital lightly. . . . As a matter of fact, it was reported that Jordan asked the Palestinians to avoid the language of threats [with regard to the embassy] and apply back-channel quiet diplomacy.

Augmenting the importance of Jerusalem may [also] get on the nerves of Saudi Arabia . . . especially since the Saudis are anxious to preserve the supreme holy status of Mecca given Shiite-Sunnite tensions and the targeting of Mecca by Shiite missiles from Yemen. . . . The Saudis cannot tolerate a rivalry posed by Jerusalem. . . . Terrorist Salafist movements, such as Islamic State, have not yet made any reference to Jerusalem. Even leaflets circulated in eastern Jerusalem, which explicitly targeted Christians, contain not a word about Jerusalem or the importance of al-Aqsa. . . .

[A]s far as Jordan is concerned, . . . it would be satisfied with preserving its status [as protector of the Islamic holy sites on the Temple Mount] and has no interest in trying to stop America from moving the embassy, as long as [the new one is] located in west Jerusalem.

What’s more, Inbari writes, Egypt’s President Sisi reportedly told Abbas, in the presence of the Saudi king, that he is “with Trump” on the embassy issue.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.