Israel Matzav

'Negotiations' with the 'Palestinians' less likely than ever

A senior aide to 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen is now denying a Channel 10 news report from Monday night that claimed that Abu Mazen would resign because he sees no chance of 'advancing' the 'peace process' with Binyamin Netanyahu in power. Still, reports JPost's Herb Keinon, with 'Palestinian' elections now scheduled for January 24, a breakthrough that would permit 'negotiations' to resume seems most unlikely.

Over the last few weeks, there has been concern in Jerusalem that as the election process nears, it will not be a time of great "creativity" and "flexibility" on the Palestinian side. Rather, as the US tries to put together a framework for Palestinian-Israeli talks, the concern is that an Abbas playing to the Palestinian electorate will lead to a "hardening of positions."

The impact of the elections has for the last few weeks been a factor Jerusalem has taken into consideration when trying to explain the difficulty the Americans are having in putting together a framework acceptable to both sides. While Abbas only announced the elections on Friday, the likelihood of a vote has been in the air for weeks.

The Palestinians have said that there must be a complete settlement freeze before negotiations can be restarted, and - according to the Israeli account of the pre-negotiations taking place - have shown no flexibility at all on the matter, something now attributed by some in Jerusalem to domestic Palestinian electoral considerations.

What happens if Hamas wins again?

What happens if someone in Fatah runs against Abu Mazen and wins?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:53 PM