Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas promised a ‘bombshell’ speech at the UN General Assembly and in the view of some of his supporters he delivered one last Wednesday. After making a strong case explaining how Israel has reneged on its commitments and obligations under the 1993 Oslo accords, under which a Palestinian state would have been created by 1999 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Abbas then declared that as a result the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) will no longer be bound by them.

He added that since the PNA has no real powers and when Israel has re-occupied most of the West Bank including territories that are supposed to be under his jurisdiction, he was now asking for international protection for the Palestinian people. Furthermore, he said that this now means that Israel should carry out its responsibilities as an occupation power.

His speech coincided with the symbolic hoisting of the Palestinian flag at the United Nations in New York, underlining the international support that the state of Palestine has received from the world community. For few precious moments the world’s media focused on this historic event but quickly shifted back to the hottest story of the week; Russia’s military incursion in Syria and how this will affect relations between Washington and Moscow.

Many observers believe Abbas’ speech carried nothing new. It left many questions unanswered. Israeli media belittled its importance and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as “deceitful”.

In contrast, Netanyahu’s own speech before the UN General Assembly a day later was both passionate and defiant. He managed to shift the discourse from Israel’s decades-old conflict with the Palestinians to Iran’s seemingly existential threat to Israel following the nuclear deal reached with the international community. And when he mentioned the problem with the Palestinians he appealed to Abbas not to turn his back on commitments and to join him in immediate unconditional peace talks for the sake of their two peoples’ future. His speech was a cunning first-class PR delivery that evaded any culpability.

In reality, the Palestinian president’s speech had little substance. Abbas repeated earlier warnings and ultimatums, but even when he declared that he was no longer bound by the Oslo accords, he failed to say if that meant that he was disbanding the PNA as a result. Keeping the PNA means that both he and Israel are still committed to each other, since the latter collects taxes and transfers the funds to Ramallah. These funds pay most of the salaries of over 150,000 employees and security personnel and have become a major driver for the ailing Palestinian economy.

In addition, Abbas has failed to deliver on an earlier threat to suspend security coordination with Israel, which for the occupying power is one of the most important benefits of the Oslo accords. Both Abbas and Israel have an interest in maintaining intelligence sharing to face a common enemy: Hamas.

Abbas was a key architect of the Oslo process and his belief in the two-state solution is firm and genuine. But after more than 20 years he has failed to accept that these accords were abrogated by Israel a long time ago and now that a far-right government is in power it is unlikely that his demands for a return to negotiations over final status issues, which include occupied Jerusalem, borders, colonies and refugees, will be accepted.

On the podium on Wednesday, Abbas appeared as a lonely defender of his people’s just cause. He could have detonated a bombshell by announcing that he was disbanding the PNA and submitting an official request to the UN Security Council demanding international protection for his occupied state. But he didn’t. Unlike his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, Abbas is too cautious as he tries to keep his house of cards intact.

The Palestinian cause has been a key casualty of the so-called Arab Spring and the series of regional conflicts it generated. Until 2011 the Arab world had one shared issue to take to the international community and specifically to the US. For decades the Arab-Israeli conflict was at the centre of Cold War politics and later, following Oslo, devolved into a Palestinian-Israeli dispute, which the US promised to bring to a lasting conclusion. But the US has failed to force Israel to honour its commitments and the PNA saw its gains eroding fast.

The fall of Arab regimes and the outbreak of civil wars in Libya, Syria and Yemen and the emergence of Daesh coupled with the growing regional threat of Iran have all re-arranged the region’s agenda at the expense of the Palestinian issue.

It has become clear that the Obama administration has given up on attempts to re-launch peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The White House has been rebuked repeatedly by Netanyahu and now President Barack Obama appears indifferent to the Palestinian cause as he focuses on the nuclear deal with Iran and maintaining a shaky strategy in Syria and Iraq. Departing from tradition, Obama’s speech at the UN dealt with many key conflicts but failed to mention the Palestinians.

For Abbas, the Arab world’s engagement in other conflicts will continue to reduce attention to the Palestinian cause. For Netanyahu, this is the perfect time to carry out plans to increase colonies, empty occupied East Jerusalem of its Arab population and change the status quo at Al Aqsa Mosque.

Abbas’ protestations will not change a thing. His reserved and calculating nature, in addition to his rivalry with Hamas, will prevent him from rocking the boat too much. Certainly those who call on him to unleash a new Palestinian intifada will not be heard or appeased. Abbas had his day at the UN, but things are unlikely to improve for him and his people.

Osama Al Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman.