In bitter comments on the collapsing peace effort with the Palestinians, Finance Minister Yair Lapid questioned whether the Palestinian leadership of Mahmoud Abbas is genuinely interested in statehood, suggesting that the Palestinians may instead prefer “to play the eternal victim.” (…)

Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid party, told The Times of Israel that he was “haunted” by the question of “whether the Palestinians really want to have their own state. I’m not sure about it.”