Israel Matzav

Abu Bluff to dissolve 'Palestinian Authority'?

'Moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen has threatened to dissolve the 'Palestinian Authority' if no deal is reached to create a 'Palestinian' reichlet.

In a television interview, Abbas said that if Israel failed to halt settlement building and U.S.-backed peace negotiations broke down, he would press for an end to the limited Palestinian self-rule in occupied territory.

"I cannot accept to remain the president of an authority that doesn't exist," Abbas said, referring to Israel's continued occupation of the West Bank.

Pressed by his questioner if he meant he would dissolve the Palestinian Authority, he replied: "I am telling them so. I say to them welcome ... you are occupiers. You are here, stay here, I cannot accept the situation will remain as is."

That's pretty funny given that he's been okay with remaining in office for nearly two years since his term expired. In fact, he's insisted on it.

By suggesting he might seek to dissolve the self-rule arrangement if settlement building didn't stop, Abbas seemed to be trying to press for world recognition of a state, to bypass the negotiating process.

He said that, if Israel would not freeze settlements for three months, as Washington had proposed, he would ask the United States and the United Nations to recognize Palestinian statehood.

If such recognition were not forthcoming, Abbas said he would consider dissolving the Palestinian Authority.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dismissed talk that Israeli-Palestinian talks were near collapse, as a senior Palestinian official said this week, and said Washington was working intensively to relaunch negotiations.

In a television interview during a visit to Bahrain, Clinton said Washington planned to make new announcements as early as next week on the next steps in the peace process.

"We're going to have some additional consultations with both the Israelis and the Palestinians. But there are a number of ways that we're going to move forward," Clinton told Al Hurra television.

I don't think those 'negotiations' are going to start anytime soon. Unless Secretary of State Clinton has a ladder to get Abu Bluff down from the settlements tree that President Obama so wisely chased him up. What could go wrong?

Labels: Abu Mazen, Hillary Clinton, Palestinian Authority, settlement freeze extension

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:36 AM