Palestine doesn’t have a “leader”. It’s “leadership” is made up of shifting coalitions of militant groups, with varying degrees of fundamentalism and political objectives of varying maximalism. Because of this, Abbas’ opinion isn’t actually indicative of if the militant groups that constitute the Palestinian leadership want themselves.

So, we have to turn to actions, because they speak louder than words. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, which is the only data point we have with which to predict what would happen if Israel withdrew from the West Bank as well.

What ended up happening? Israel got rocket attacks and cross border raids in response, precisely because the militant groups that truly constitute the Palestinian leadership don’t actually share Abbas’ surface-level statement that the 1967 borders are legitimate. Abbas probably doesn’t even believe it himself.

The truth is that Israel could withdraw to the 1967 or even the 1948 borders and the vast majority of Palestinian militants would only view it as “partial success”.