Veteran Republican strategist Ron Christie is skeptical of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' plan to petition 15 U.N. agencies to accept a Palestinian state.
"Having met with Abbas myself in Ramallah nearly 10 years ago and watched his actions over the years, he's not very serious about Middle East peace," Christie told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"He's serious about receiving financial assistance from the United States and from the United Nations community to enrich himself.
"The West Bank, if you've ever been, it's just the most atrocious, poverty-stricken area. So, when you look at his true motivation, it's looking for statehood to elevate his own personal status rather than the status of his own people," Christie said Tuesday.
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Christie opposes the release from prison of American
Jonathan Pollard, who was convicted of spying for Israel in 1987 and whom the United States is reportedly in talks to free.
Pollard, convicted in 1987 of passing classified information to Israel while working as a civilian intelligence analyst, is serving 30 years behind bars.
"He's a traitor and he's a spy and he ought to sit and remain where he sits," Christie said, adding that President George W. Bush would never have considered the release of Pollard.
"Never. And . . . the way the Obama administration has been harassing Israel has shown a great deal of disrespect.
"As we heard an Israeli official say a couple of months ago . . . perhaps the only way to get [Secretary of State John] Kerry and the Obama administration to leave him alone is for them to get the Nobel Peace Prize."
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