President Obama's First Call to a Foreign Leader Was to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas

President Obama's First Call to a Foreign Leader Was to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas

• Two days after his inauguration, President Obama placed his first phone call to a foreign leader—Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who had repeatedly emphasized the importance of “implementing the principles of Yasser Arafat,” and had authorized lump-sum payments of $2,200 apiece to the surviving family members of Palestinian suicide bombers. Further, Abbas has praised the terrorist group Hezbollah as a shining example of “Arab resistance” against alleged Israeli oppression; he has lauded Palestinian terrorists as “strugglers” and “martyrs” whom “Allah loves”; he has steadfastly refused to recognize Israel's right to exist; he has headed the Fatah Party, whose Charter advocates terrorism against, and the annihilation of, Israel; he has urged Palestinians to “unite the Hamas and Fatah blood in the struggle against Israel as we did at the beginning of the Intifada.”