The Arab League voted against a Palestinian proposal to condemn the Israel-United Arab Emirates peace deal during a meeting in Cairo on Wednesday, following a three-hour debate on the matter.

Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki slammed the body for failing to reject the deal, saying that silence on the matter will be viewed as granting the deal its blessing, conspiring with it, or trying to cover it up.

What al-Maliki failed to acknowledge is that several Arab states have expressed their “blessing” for the peace deal, some publicly and some quietly.

Prior to the meeting, the Palestinian Authority made a decision to tone down its initially scathing rhetoric against the Israel-UAE deal. PA President Mahmoud Abbas published a statement on Tuesday “banning any offensive statements or actions towards Arab leaders, including UAE rulers.”

The PA’s draft resolution for the meeting, stating that the Israel-UAE agreement “doesn’t diminish Arab consensus over the Palestinian cause; the Palestinian cause is the cause of the entire Arab nation” was quite a watered-down version of Abbas’s first remarks following the announcement, when he said that the deal was “a betrayal and stab in the back.”

Perhaps the remarks of the deputy chief of the Dubai police department to a Kuwaiti media outlet made an impression on Abbas.

“Is it conceivable that the decision of heads of the state whether or not to sign an agreement with a certain country depends on the approval [Palestinian Authority Chairman] Mahmoud Abbas?” he said scornfully.

“Is it conceivable that a president or a prime minister is basing his [decision] on the advice of Abbas? Abbas himself is unable to make a decision to resolve the [Palestinian] problem. If Abbas had been a worthy leader, he would have solved the Palestinian problem or would have already resigned.”

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(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)