Israel Matzav

Abu Bluff tells Mofaz to stay home

'Moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen has told Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz to stay home on Sunday, and some people are blaming Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The meeting, planned to take place Sunday in Ramallah, was originally scheduled at the behest of Mofaz, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Thursday. The meeting would have been the highest-level direct contact between Israel and the Palestinians since peace talks broke down in 2010.

Palestinian youth activists had announced opposition to and planned protests against the meeting, almost immediately after it was made public by Erekat, Ma'an reported earlier in the week. In addition, a group of activists said they had prepared a lawsuit demanding Mofaz's arrest for alleged war crimes upon his arrival in Ramallah. It was not clear if the suit was ever filed.

A Fatah official told Ma'an that Abbas decided to delay the meeting in consideration of the popular opposition to it.

Given Abu Mazen's 'mandate,' it's not surprising that the threat of 'protests' would convince him to call off a meeting that he probably didn't want to have anyway. But here's the amazing part.

Following the announcement that the meeting was cancelled, the Israeli media quoted government sources close to Mofaz as saying Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's associates applied pressure to quash the meeting.

According to the reports, associates of Mofaz claimed that Netanyahu pushed to cancel the meeting, proving "the depth of the crisis between Mofaz and Netanyahu on the question of IDF enlistment."

You've got to be kidding. What does the 'question of IDF enlistment' have to do with Mofaz meeting with Abu Mazen? And what makes anyone think that Netanyahu has any influence whatsoever over Abu Mazen, let alone enough to get him to cancel a meeting if he really wanted to have it?

Channel 10 quoted sources close to Netanyahu as responding that it was "embarrassing that there are people close to Mofaz trying to claim that their is a connection between the Tal Law and and the meeting with Abu Mazen [Abbas]. This is a claim that was made up after the Palestinians already announced that the meeting was cancelled because of the demonstrations in Ramallah against it."

Embarrassing to whom? Mofaz is obviously happy to have these kinds of intrigues. Maybe Bibi bit off too much when he added him to the coalition?

And in case you're wondering what the 'IDF enlistment' question is about....

Likud officials have blamed Mofaz and his Kadima party of trying to pressure Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party into quitting the coalition due to attempts to water down a plan for the recruitment of haredim and Arabs into the IDF.

Netanyahu recently told Mofaz that the Plesner Committee must drop a recommendation for personal sanctions against anyone who does not join the IDF.

During the meeting with the PM, Mofaz demanded that the Plesner Committee impose personal sanctions against those who don't enlist. The two agreed to meet early next week.

...

A government official who is familiar with the talks said the Kadima chairman retracted his demand to include the mandatory enlistment of Israeli Arabs in the new legislation.

All of which has nothing to do with Abu Bluff.

Labels: Abu Mazen, Binyamin Netanyahu, Shaul Mofaz

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:28 AM