The Palestinians are the “Mr. Irrelevant” of foreign policy

The last guy picked in the NFL draft is always dubbed “Mr. Irrelevant.” Meet Trey Quinn, wide receiver from SMU. He’ll get a lot of free press, but there’s little chance he’ll end up in the Hall of Fame.

For decades conventional wisdom has assured us that the Palestinians were the key to Mideast peace. Their every whim was reported, analyzed, extrapolated, and most of all respected. Then along came Donald Trump, and as it turns out Jared Kushner, together with a fellow colloquially known as “MBS,” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

In a closed-door meeting with heads of Jewish organizations in New York on March 27th, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) gave harsh criticism of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), according to an Israeli foreign ministry cable sent by a diplomat from the Israeli consulate in New York, as well three sources — Israeli and American — who were briefed about the meeting.

The bottom line of the crown prince’s criticism: Palestinian leadership needs to finally take the proposals it gets from the U.S. or stop complaining.

Wow.

He made clear the Palestinian issue was not a top priority for the Saudi government or Saudi public opinion. MBS said Saudi Arabia “has much more urgent and important issues to deal with” like confronting Iran’s influence in the region.

In other words, the Palestinians are irrelevant. They got a lot of free press. But they’re basically a footnote to history.