Israel Matzav: In a second term, he can be more flexible: Did Fayyad ask for asylum?

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

In a second term, he can be more flexible: Did Fayyad ask for asylum?

I'm sure you all remember President Hussein Obama telling Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev that he could be 'more flexible' in his second term, and Medvedev promising to pass that on to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Apparently, Obama's flexibility didn't just apply to nuclear weapons treaties with Russia. 'Palestinian' sources are now claiming that Obama is now 'softening' his opposition to a Hamas-Fatah unity government. Presumably that means that Obama is now willing to accept such a 'government' without Hamas accepting the quartet conditions (recognizing Israel's 'right to exist,' renouncing terrorism and accepting past agreements between Israel and the 'Palestinians').

While neither the State Department nor the 'Palestinians' would comment on the contents of US Secretary of State John FN Kerry's meeting with 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President ~~Mahmoud Abbas~~ Abu Mazen on Friday, it is now clear that 'Palestinian' Prime Minister Salam Fayyad will be gone in a matter of days, and that Abu Mazen is going to meet this week with Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal to form a unity government.

Azzam al-Ahmed, a member of the Fatah Central Committee and a senior adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said that US opposition to the unity idea was “less strong.”

Ahmed’s comments came hours after Abbas met in Ramallah with US Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss American efforts to revive the stalled peace process with Israel.

Ahmed said that Abbas would meet with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Doha, Qatar, later this week to discuss the formation of a Palestinian unity government.

...

The Fatah official said he would head to Cairo on Tuesday to meet with Hamas senior official Musa Abu Marzouk to prepare for the Abbas-Mashaal summit.

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is about to resign, and had a bizarre meeting with Kerry on Monday.

Abbas’s renewed attempts to achieve unity with Hamas came amid reports that PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was planning to submit his resignation to the PA president.

In a surprise move, Fayyad met on Monday in Jerusalem with Kerry. It’s not clear why the two chose to meet in Jerusalem and not in Ramallah.

Sources in Ramallah said that Fayyad was expected to quit or face being sacked by Abbas after months of escalating tension between the two men.

...

Abbas is also reported to have been enraged over the fact that US President Barack Obama, who visited Ramallah last month, met separately with Fayyad.

They met in Jerusalem, because Fayyad was probably afraid he'd be killed if they met in Ramallah.

If Fayyad is really gone (and he apparently is), he's probably asking for asylum. The only question is whether he asked Kerry for asylum in the US, or whether he asked Kerry to arrange for asylum in Israel.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Abu Mazen, Barack Hussein Obama, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, John Kerry, Khaled Meshaal, Salam Fayyad