'Palestinians' seek Arab support to stay away from talks
Israel is willing to meet with 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Abbas, who was scheduled to meet with Mubarak on Tuesday, is seeking Arab backing for his decision to stay away from the talks unless Israel renews the moratorium, a PA official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post.But support them in what way?
“The Arab countries must support us in the wake of heavy pressure from the Americans to continue with the negotiations while the construction is going on in the settlements,” the official said. “Without such backing, we can’t move forward with anything.”
Exit question: We've all heard how the US is pressuring Israel to extend the freeze, and - at least if Abu Mazen is to be believed - how the US is pressuring the 'Palestinians' to stay in the talks regardless of what Israel does about the freeze. But has any of you heard anything about US pressure on the Arab countries that have supported them for the last 47 years to tell the PLO that they will pull the rug out from under them unless they stay in the talks? Shouldn't the US be applying that kind of pressure?
My answer to the exit question is "no, the US is not applying any such pressure, and you won't hear of any such pressure even if they did," but if any of you has a different answer, I'd love to hear it.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:10 PM
1 Comments:
All of this just got Obama one week closer to his goal, a goal which Abbas should be willing to help him achieve. Obama can wait for the Arab statement, then make one of his own. Then back to you Abbas. There's another 2 weeks off the clock. I don't believe anyone cares for a second about settlements or any kind of peace deal. The only thing that matters right now is mid-term elections, and buying time, even though the peace talks are an utter sham. Based on that, maybe Netanyahu ought to think about jumping on the gravy train while it's still around, pocket some of those goodies Obama is (reluctantly, I am sure) offering.
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