"Hamas is negotiating with Israel:" this is what Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas confidently said to a BBC-Arabic reporter in an exclusive interview. How does he know? Abbas asserted that there are "no secrets in Israel."
If things could only be this simple in the Middle East, Mr. Abbas would have known from the get-go that the Oslo Accords were a disaster for the Palestinians, Bush's Road Map for Peace was just another road to nowhere, the Annapolis Peace Conference was dead on arrival, and Obama's promises for "change" do not mean squat when it comes to Israel.
The President of the Palestinian Authority added that the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for January will be postponed and that he would not seek a second term as president. Abbas looked frustrated...he looked like a beaten man.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government in recent days has been scrambling for yet another distraction to offer the beleaguered Palestinian Authority President: an interim accord that would include a Palestinian state with provisional borders. This way he'll have a quasi-state with temporary borders to show for all the endless negotiations. What a brilliant idea!
The reasoning behind this brilliant idea is that it would remove contentious issues that have prevented an agreement in the past, such as the Palestinian refugee issue and Jerusalem, from the negotiating table. No big deal, really!
This is starting to sound like another chapter from One Thousand and One Nights.
In another development, the Israeli government has recently approved the construction of 900 new housing units in Gilo, a Jewish neighborhood built on lands captured by Israel in 1967. The announcement has caused an uproar in the international community and has drawn sharp criticism and "dismay" from the White House.
And yet another brilliant idea: according to the Jerusalem Post, in an attempt to lure the PA back to the negotiating table, in private discussions, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear he was prepared for a moratorium on new settlement construction, as long as it did not include Jerusalem and did not preclude construction of public buildings needed for normal life in the settlements.
Translated, this means construction will continue as usual in E. Jerusalem along with expanding current Israeli settlements.
Meanwhile, with all this happening, media reports have been surfacing that a final deal has been reached for the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Some Arab media outlets have been reporting that Shalit might be released as early as the Muslim Eid holiday in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Should this happen, it will be a major victory for Hamas and another blow to Abbas.
Last month Hamas handed Israel a video of Shalit in exchange for 20 female Palestinian prisoners; something that was widely seen as a major victory for the organization by many Palestinians.
According to a poll published in Haaretz, 57 per cent of Israelis support the idea of talking with Hamas. The poll was taken in the wake of a statement by former defense minister Shaul Mofaz, who last week unveiled a plan that includes negotiations with Hamas and an interim Palestinian state on 60 percent of the West Bank in a year.
"If Hamas would be elected and would want to negotiate and accept the Quartet's conditions, from that moment, it is no longer Hamas", said Mr. Mofaz. He also added, "Responsible leadership in Israel would sit with those who changed their agenda."
So if Hamas is no longer Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority is no longer an authority, what options do the Palestinians have?
To be continued on another night...
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To be continued on another night..."
I would say, yes the great accomplishment of the Palestinians has been to survive just like Scheherazade, to tell another tale, act out another chapter, no matter how foolish the powers that be. If the Israelis had their way, the Palestinians would have been relegated to the status of a non-people, a non-culture long ago. Even though their future is still undetermined whether two-state or secular one, they have proved their resiliency time & time again.
Jamal, It was hard to pick out my favorite comment from your article this time. I also have to tell you that my family loved your ". . .and Obama's promises for "change" do not mean squat when it comes to Israel." This just does describe the whole situation perfectly: No rebukes to Israel during the Gaza carnage, but continuing admonishments to the Palestinians against "incitement," Hillary & Susan Rice's ridiculous pro-Israel quotes, George Mitchell's continuing uncomfortable looks, meaningless gestures. Squat sums it up so far, but we'll see what's in the next story.
the old school leadership is a major barrier to security, the people want peace, the leadership is too belligerent, too racist to want it, much less know how to achieve it.
If the US Congress were not bought and paid for by AIPAC, our congressional leaders would act responsibly
and
vote appropriately instead of blindly supporting policies that defend and promote human rights abuses, oppression and fuel world anger.
How about because Israel is armed to the teeth with every conceivable modern weapon, and the Palestinians aren't, and the Likud Charter states, categorically:
"A unilateral Palestinian declaration of the establishment of a Palestinian state will constitute a fundamental and substantive violation of the agreements with the State of Israel and the scuttling of the Oslo and Wye accords. The government will adopt immediate stringent measures in the event of such a declaration."
That is no veiled threat, it is a promise that any such declaration would be put down by force majeure.