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Friday March 23, 2007

No: Abbas is too close to Hamas’ positions

by uzi arad

Establishing the Palestinian national unity government signals a new phase in the Palestinian struggle, Mahmoud Abbas has said.

And indeed it does, because clearly the new government’s platform points to a significant political escalation in the Palestinian struggle against Israel.

If Israel does not deal with this challenge, international isolation of the Palestinians, which has been enforced until now, is likely to end — and possibly even lead to renewal of diplomatic ties between several countries and the newly established government.

In time, the cracks will expand and turn into a political landslide from Israel’s point of view, and the pressure exerted last year on Hamas to moderate its positions will dissipate completely.

This would represent a significant achievement for Hamas, which has continued to build military might since its rise to power following the disengagement from the Gaza Strip, establishing its hold on the ground and collecting political and international rewards without having to modify its policies.

On the other side of the tracks, Israel is enmeshed in a rear-guard battle aimed at preventing the political avalanche — which has clearly not helped its own situation.

The failure of the disengagement emboldened Hamas. Moreover, the elementary conditions set by the Quartet on Hamas were not decisive enough. From the moment Abbas adapted his stances to those of Hamas at the Mecca summit and Israel did not renounce it, the road was paved for Abbas’ inclination to accept that the unity government’s platform would resemble Hamas’ fundamental positions.

This is why, for example, the new Palestinian government has not renounced terror and does not recognize Israel. As for adhering to former agreements signed by the Palestinians, there’s nothing to be said here because even Abbas himself is not adhering to them.

This presents a severe decline in the Palestinian position. It’s also hard to ignore how, in parallel, even Palestinians with Israeli citizenship declared that their vision is similar to that of their brothers in Gaza and the West Bank: abolishing the Jewish state in Israel.

This is also what Abbas’ insistence on the right of return actually implies.

And how is Israel dealing with these challenges? It’s looking for an escape in the Arab initiatives, expressing its willingness to skip over phase one of the “road map” — the phase that requires Palestinians to deal head-on with terror — and immediately enter into dialogue on a final-status agreement, which is unfeasible at this point.

Since Abbas estranged himself from the Quarter’s demands and his commitment to the road map, Israel has nothing to discuss with him. Abbas colluded with Hamas. As a result, Israel cannot engage in talks with such a Palestinian unity government.

Uzi Arad is the former director of intelligence for the Mossad and is currently a professor at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. Story supplied by YNET News.

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