Why Do Obama And Abbas Care More About The Settlements Than The Palestinians Themselves Do?

The degree to which Obama single-handedly made the Israel settlements in the key issue, the deal breaker, that stands in the way of his one year road to Middle East peace--this is known.

We also have seen how by talking up this point and making it an issue, Obama has forced Abbas to demand a settlement freeze before he will return to the negotiating table.

But while we know what Obama and Abbas want, no one has asked the Arabs what they want--actually, someone has. And not surprisingly, according to a poll by Jerusalem Media and Communications Centre (JMCC)--a Palestinian group--the Palestinians just don't think the Israeli settlements are their first priority:

Asked to select the issue of highest importance for the Palestinian people, 22.4% of respondents said the economic situation was the most important issue, while 18% said the internal split between the factions was the issue that most concerned them. A ratio of 15.5% named the occupation as the most important issue, while 9.4% of respondents said the siege on Gaza was the most important issue, followed by the issue of settlements listed first by 6.6% and the question of Jerusalem rated most important by 4.9% of participants.

This is not the first time a poll has upset a myth. As I've mentioned before, another poll reveals that only 20% of Palestinians consider themselves Palestinians first:

In a question about how the Palestinians identify themselves, the results reveal that 61% identify themselves as 'Muslims first”, 20% as 'Palestinians first', and 15% as 'human being first', and 3% as 'Arabs first.'

Getting back to the JMCC poll, Evelyn Gordon focuses on the implications of the poll for ending the "occupation"--namely, Abbas does not have the backing to end the "occupation":

This means that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has no incentive to make any kind of deal because ordinary Palestinians don’t care enough about ending “the occupation” to make them willing to swallow the concessions a deal will entail.

...But giving up a cherished dream is hard. Most people will do it only in exchange for a major improvement in reality. And if settlements and the occupation are not actually oppressive enough to rate as burning issues for ordinary Palestinians, a deal cannot produce the massive improvement in reality that would compensate for abandoning their dreams.

Moreover, a people that views Hamas-Fatah reconciliation as more important than ending the occupation is clearly not interested in a deal; given Hamas’s commitment to “armed struggle” and Israel’s ultimate eradication, reconciliation can only take place on terms that would preclude any agreement.

But none of this matters. The people pushing for a freeze of the settlements apparently don't seem to be reading polls such as these.

After all, why should they--do either Obama or Abbas really care about what the Palestinians themselves really want?

So we have Obama, who is dead set on getting a Middle East peace agreement--and Abbas, for whom a Middle East peace just isn't a priority.

Technorati Tag: Mideast Peace Talks.