Maybe recent events by Israel have given Abbas some leverage or space to speak more forcefully about the situation. He doesn't mention refugees, though, and if I remember correctly this is where he sells out.
I like these statements and the fact that he puts an old favorite Israeli argument right back to them- we've extended our hand in peace... and we're still waiting.
OPINION: Peacemaking takes courage, leaders
By Mahmoud Abbas - 06/08/10 06:00 AM ET
http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/101843-a-moment-of-truth-peacemaking-requires-courage-and-leadership
Meaningful negotiations and Israeli settlement activity do not go hand in hand because the continued building of settlements will not leave enough land for us to establish our own contiguous and viable state.
In the Arab Peace Initiative, 57 Arab and Muslim countries offered Israel peace and normalized relations in return for Israel’s withdrawal from the Palestinian and Arab territories it conquered by force in the 1967 War and has occupied since. Israeli leaders have so far failed to grasp this historic opportunity and instead are actively working toward making the two-state solution impossible.
So Abbas's abandonment of common sense and decency this time was the result of a pretty good threat...http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1143038.html At the October meeting in Ramallah, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told Abbas that if he did not ask for a deferral of the vote on the critical report on last year's military operation, Israel would turn the West Bank into a "second Gaza."
Maybe he deserves a break on this one. Now, time ot persue the Goldstone Report!
Analysis: Abbas weakened by Israel's Gaza warhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090112/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_palestinians_abbas_scorned_analysis;_ylt=AkZ92iS4LCs7r2uTiPCPpbULewgF
"Available in the market, a U.S.-made product whose date has expired — Abu Mazen," reads a text message circulating in the West Bank these days.
That’ll tend to happen when you take the US and Israeli line against your own suffering people. What a sellout. What’s he trying to do? Buy political capital- from the US and Israel? What good will that do when he doesn’t get elected again? I guess the US or Israel could install him after a “my way or the highway” invasion and total destruction of the Occupied Territories. Is that what he’s hoping for?
