PA President Mahmoud Abbas has given PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh an ultimatum: Accept a deal for borders within the ’67 line or the issue goes to a general referendum.On the one hand Haniyeh is claiming that Olmert's visit to the US was a great success and that the Convergence Plan was approved by Bush:
"Israel is trying to set up a country with a Jewish majority and preserve Jerusalem as its capital,” he told PA legislators. "This shows the Israeli government wants to keep the occupation. Unfortunately, the Americans are on Israel’s side.Haniyeh continues to boast about the success of the terrorist attacks on Israel.
On the other hand, Abbas seems to be pushing towards serious talks that are about more than just talking:
"Are slogans enough to feed the hungry?" Abbas demanded of the PA parliament. "We must stop with the slogans and start dealing with reality. We must stop dreaming and accept what we can take now. Let us not speak of dreams. Let us take the Palestinian state on the ’67 borders," he stated.After all the hondling following the Road Map and squeezing concessions--and the Disengagement--out of Israel:
Abbas insisted that the majority of PA Arabs are willing to accept the deal. "There is a national consensus on this," he said, adding that the current infighting between Fatah and Hamas is simply wasting time.
o Is Abbas serious about peace this time?
o Even if he is, does he have what it takes to pull it off?
o Is Hamas going to go along with this?
o If it doesn't will a real civil war break out
o Why is it that Abbas is willing to make a referendum, but Sharon wouldn't and Olmert won't
Technorati Tag: Israel and Palestinians and Hamas and Fatah and Abbas and Haniyeh.
In regard to your last question, why Abbas is willing to make (and potentially follow) a referendum while Sharon and Olmert were less so (at least to follow the results): I believe it is because Abbas has absolutely no leverage. He doesn't control the parliament. He doesn't control the street.
ReplyDeleteI find myself skeptical, yet it is hard to imagine anything Abbas could say that would be more hopeful than this (realistically that is). In the end, there are a couple of points open for skipticism. One is that he said "accept what we can take now" with a big unsaid follow on after that (i.e. after we take what we can get now, what do we do later). Second is that this could be more a ploy at taping together Hamas and Fatah so at least they can pursue their traditional goals in unity once more. I'd still love to believe Abbas is serious, but we'll have to wait and see for awhile.
Thanks for posting on this. I've been seeing these headlines for the last day or so, and just don't know what to make of them, so your analysis was very helpful.
But just when you're ready to have an open mind with a wait-and-see attitude, along comes reality:
ReplyDeleteAbbas Calls Terrorists "Our Heroes"
Just two days after PM Olmert called him a "very decent human being" who is "opposed to terror," PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas call Palestinian terrorists "our heroes."
...Palestinian Media Watch, an organization that monitors and reports on anti-Israel hatred in the PA media, reveals that Abbas twice this week referred to Arab terrorists serving "tens of life sentences" in Israeli jails as "our heroes." PMW's Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook report that the terrorists referred to are "arch-terrorists who have personally killed tens of Israelis and are sentenced to one life sentence for each murder."
..."Israeli and Western leaders are so eager to find a viable partner for peace," write Marcus and Crook, "that they often mistake Palestinian Authority leaders' 'lip service' in English as statements of truly peaceful intentions. But as PMW has reported for the past decade, the only way to understand these leaders' real opinions is to pay attention to what they are telling their own people in Arabic. These are the only messages that count."
I can let go of my momentary hope that Abbas might be on to something--now that I know he is merely up to something.
I wish I could say the same of the Israeli government and the West.