Editorial
The Guardian, Friday 6 November 2009
"Whether he makes good on the pledge he made last night not to stand in next year's elections, or whether he is eventually persuaded to stay, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has had enough already. And it is clear why. He was elected nearly five years ago to negotiate a Palestinian state and has got nowhere, even with two Israeli governments who understand that the alternatives to his leadership are worse. But even the best Palestinian president that Israel is going to get could not stop settlement construction, an obligation Israel signed up to in 2003. Even he could not stop the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, saying in Cairo at the weekend that Binyamin Netanyahu's offer of a partial freeze (the continued construction of 3,000 settler homes, continued building in East Jerusalem and all public projects in settlements) was "unprecedented". Mr Abbas has threatened to quit before. This time he means it.......
The Guardian, Friday 6 November 2009
"Whether he makes good on the pledge he made last night not to stand in next year's elections, or whether he is eventually persuaded to stay, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has had enough already. And it is clear why. He was elected nearly five years ago to negotiate a Palestinian state and has got nowhere, even with two Israeli governments who understand that the alternatives to his leadership are worse. But even the best Palestinian president that Israel is going to get could not stop settlement construction, an obligation Israel signed up to in 2003. Even he could not stop the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, saying in Cairo at the weekend that Binyamin Netanyahu's offer of a partial freeze (the continued construction of 3,000 settler homes, continued building in East Jerusalem and all public projects in settlements) was "unprecedented". Mr Abbas has threatened to quit before. This time he means it.......
So often used to micromanage and manoeuvre personalities, US diplomats should step back and look at the bigger picture. It is one in which the dream of a two-state solution is souring. They should take this prospect seriously and assess which of two options poses the greater threat to US regional interests: forcing Israel, if necessary by withholding money or arms, to abide by a commitment which poses no existential threat to the Israeli state, or letting the impasse continue until a third Palestinian uprising ignites. Behind Mr Abbas's actions, serious and widespread frustration lies. And we know from past experience into whose hands this plays."
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