'Palestinians': 'Peace talks' possible but Fayyad out
Contradicting an earlier statement by Hamas 'foreign minister' Mahmoud al-Zahar, 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signaled on Thursday that peace talks with Israel would still be possible during the term of a new interim government formed as part of a unity deal with Hamas.Even if this is correct, Israel ought to be refusing to negotiate knowing that the 'interim government' could be replaced by one headed by Hamas.
Abbas said the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which he heads and to which Hamas does not belong, would still be responsible for "handling politics, negotiations."
In the meantime, there's more good news for the 'international community.' Hamas and Fatah have agreed to relieve 'Palestinian Prime Minister' Salam Fayyad of his duties. Fayyad, a former employee of the World Bank, was the only 'Palestinian' many of the 'donor countries' trusted to handle their donations. Now, he will be gone.
The deal brings with it the risk of alienating the Western support that the Palestinian Authority has enjoyed. Azzam al-Ahmad, the Fatah negotiator, said that Salam Fayyad, the prime minister in the West Bank who is despised by Hamas, would not be part of the interim government. It is partly because of Mr. Fayyad, and the trust he inspires in Washington, that hundreds of millions of dollars are provided annually to the Palestinian Authority by Congress. Without that aid, the Palestinian Authority would face great difficulties.What could go wrong?
Labels: Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Mahmoud Abbas, Mahmoud al-Zahar, Salam Fayyad
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:55 PM
2 Comments:
Its good news for Israel.
Abu Bluff in any case, can't really negotiate with Israel without Hamas backing out of the unity accords he just agreed to.
And his room for making any concessions is precisely zero. The minimum terms Israel wants for a peace accord is exactly what opposes granting.
And with Hamas having an effective veto over anything Abu Bluff might do, your guess is as good mine.
The peace process is dead and Oslo is now history.
Bibi has to stand strong if (when?) the EU-Quartet-Obama peace-process machine tries to rouge the corpse and argue through an elaborate parsing of the new Fatahamistan configurations that Israel has to offer unilateral concessions on the alter of the mythical negotiating table Fatah has used to cover its anti-Israel maneuvering.
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