In this podcast, INSS researcher Adi Kantor sits down with senior researcher Brig. Gen. (res.) Udi Dekel, who currently heads the research program on the Palestinian arena in the INSS, and with researcher Noa Shusterman, the Israel-Palestinian Research Program Coordinator in the institute, to discuss their latest memorandum titled: “The Day after Abbas”: Strategic Implications for Israel”.

The question of who will replace or succeed Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen) as President of the Palestinian Authority is one of the most urgent and important issues specifically regarding the Palestinian arena, but one which also has clear implications for Israel. The research presented in the talk was an effort of a team of experts in the Palestinian Research Program of the INSS, who joined together with the purpose of examining the possible leading scenarios after President Abbas’s departure and the repercussions for Israeli-Palestinian affairs.

Among the main questions discussed are the following: What is the significance behind publishing this research, and why now? What are the leading possible scenarios detected by the authors regarding the situation after the departure of Abbas? What will affect the probability of each scenario, from both Palestenian and Israeli perspectives? What are the implications of a lack of "long term thinking" regading Israeli policy? What is the danger behind the slide into a 'one state' reality? and what are the main recommendations for the Israeli government when taking all of these parameters under account?

Read the full memorandum: https://www.inss.org.il/publication/the-day-after-abu-mazen/