Israel Matzav

And again: Abu Mazen content to sit and wait

True to form, 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen has decided once again that he is going to sit and wait for the Obama administration to deliver Israel on a silver platter. Once again, he is refusing to return to talks, except that this time the talks are 'indirect' talks.

The Palestinians would agree to hold indirect talks with Israel if they received assurances that the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would abide by the recent Quartet demand for a total freeze on settlement construction, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday.

Abbas, who was speaking in the Jordanian capital of Amman after meeting with US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, said he was now waiting to hear whether Israel would heed the Quartet’s call and freeze all settlement construction, including in east Jerusalem.

“Today we had a good and thorough meeting,” Abbas said. “Now we are waiting for a response [from Mitchell] in the next few days. We hope this response would be seen as a commitment to what was mentioned in the recent statement issued by the Quartet. This is what we are searching for.”

Some 'Palestinians' view Abu Bluff's statement as signaling a willingness to return to talks. It's not. Abu Bluff knows that Netanyahu cannot and will not agree to a full freeze in Jerusalem, and certainly not on the record.

Oh, and by the way, the 'man of peace' who has - in Hillary Clinton's words - 'put the Palestinians on the path to peace,' issued another threat:

Referring to the recent wave of violence, Abbas said the Palestinians maintained the right to launch a “popular resistance” against Israel.

I don't get it. Why doesn't Abu Bluff feel the fierce moral urgency to make peace that Obama feels? What could go wrong? Hmmm.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:37 PM