Mahmoud Abbas did not kidnap our teenagers. He is offering us his hand. By MK Hilik Bar

Article by Hilik Bar, theguardian.com, Thursday 26 June 2014 15.57 BSTThe Palestinian leader was brave to speak out about the kidnappings - Israel should acknowledge his courage and grasp this opportunity for peace"Those who kidnapped the three Israeli teenagers want to destroy us," the speaker told his audience. "First and foremost [these teenagers] are human beings like us. It is our responsibility to search for them and to return them to their families. We will hold their kidnappers accountable, whoever they are."These unequivocal comments, delivered at a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, were carried live on Palestinian television and other Arabic channels. The man making them was one Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. No, Abbas should not get a Nobel peace prize for his words, but they were not easy or obvious for him to say. This is precisely why Israelis should listen to his statement carefully, appreciate it and make the best of it – and so far, we haven't.The tragic kidnapping of these Israeli teenagers, three of our finest boys, near Hebron last week, need not become yet another tit-for-tat exchange between Palestinians and Israelis. The Palestinian president did not kidnap our boys – a terrorist cell did so – against Abbas's will and interest. His comments suggest that this moment of crisis may also be a moment of opportunity and critical re-evaluation of the peacemaking possibilities between our two peoples.We keep hearing from elements on Israel's far right that Abbas says one thing to Palestinians in Arabic, and another in English to the west. He is not to be trusted, the argument goes; he is a manipulator and he is deceitful. How can we rely on him as our peace partner? Well, perhaps sometimes he has been manipulative, but not now; not in this case.Here he is, in Saudi Arabia, telling the whole Arab and Muslim world, in Arabic, on live TV, that it does not matter that these three innocent boys are settlers, and that their kidnapping is a ghastly act for which the Palestinians themselves will hold the perpetrators accountable.It would be natural for me, or for the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, to say these words, but if you know the Arab and the Palestinian world, you know that it is truly courageous of Abbas to utter them. Abbas is not an Israeli, he is our foe, and we are his.Yes, Abbas represents our enemy. Yes, there has been a deficit of trust between us over the years. No, he is not the perfect interlocutor. But why make the perfect the enemy of the good? By not engaging seriously with him, Israel is missing out on dealing with a man who has renounced violence and who represents our best chance yet at striking a comprehensive final-status deal with the Palestinians. And such an agreement with the Palestinians is exactly what will ensure Israel's future and security.Ironically, the tragic and abhorrent kidnapping of our dear Gilad, Naftali and Eyal, has given us another of Abbas's direct, unequivocal pronouncements that show he is a partner for peace. Not a perfect one, but a partner.What more proof do we need? It sometimes seems as if the right wouldn't acknowledge Abbas as a partner for peace if he donned a Jewish prayer shawl, proclaimed Theodor Herzl as his greatest hero, and announced his affinity for gefilte fish.We will never reach peace this way. The unrealistic expectations and lack of good faith from the right has made them seem increasingly irrelevant when it comes to making a real, concerted effort at reconciliation. Peace, and the two-state solution, are worth our enduring effort: it's our future we're talking about here.There are extreme elements among the Palestinians and in Israel who do not wish to see a peace agreement, for many different reasons. Those elements do not want the best possible future for either Israelis or Palestinians. It is so easy for them to demonise the enemy, the other side, the leaders, as an excuse to not make a real effort, to not negotiate. Former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was attacked by extreme Palestinians as a warmonger and "breaker of bones" and by far-right Israelis as a "traitor" for negotiating with the PLO.There are two alternative scenarios for how things might play out from here. The script could go on: Israel continues its search for our three dear missing sons in the West Bank, treating the Palestinian Authority as largely irrelevant, and Netanyahu portrays Palestinian rejectionism and bloodlust as the cause of this latest outrage. The hyper-nationalist narrative would remain: See, you cannot trust Abbas. There is no point in talking to him. Look at what they do. There is no partner for peace. End of story.I propose a different scenario. The search for our boys should continue in the West Bank, but in cooperation with the Palestinian security forces, who have worked extensively with us for years in preventing terror and keeping the peace. The search should be much more focused and precise, minimising the impact on those Palestinians who have clearly played no role in the kidnappings or other terror activity. We should avoid even the appearance of "collective punishment". Why not take the opportunity to extend our hand in partnership to the Palestinians against our common enemy – terrorist extremists who would kidnap 16-year-old boys from their mothers?The narrative of us-versus-them and hyper-nationalism should be shifted 180 degrees. And, in proper acknowledgment of Abbas's recent statement, Netanyahu should hold a joint meeting with Abbas, perhaps by visiting his compound in Ramallah in what would be a historic gesture.There, they would hold a joint press conference declaring mutual condemnation for acts of violence. Both would affirm the right of the other nation to a state, and to life. Both would shake hands and create an atmosphere of conciliation, snatching victory and opportunity and peacefulness from the jaws of hatred, kidnapping, and violent nationalist jingoism. This should have happened long ago. It didn't. It's about time. Hilik Bar is deputy speaker of the Knesset, secretary general of the Israeli Labor party, and chair of the Knesset caucus to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. For original article please see: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/26/mahmoud-abbas-kidnap-teenagers-palestinian-leader-kidnappings-peace