March 28, 2008

By Ted Belman

MJ Rosenberg of the Israel Policy Forum (IPF) in his recent article The Next War laments that “neither the Israelis (nor their American allies) are doing very much to prevent it—although they do go through the motions.”

The good news is that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has apparently reached an agreement with President Abbas on the key issues dividing Israel and the Palestinian Authority, including refugees and Jerusalem. Israeli and Palestinian sources say that the agreement meets the security and political needs of both sides. Not surprisingly, the tentative agreement tracks the so-called Clinton parameters, the plan President Clinton proposed in 2001 as his term in office was ending. After eight years and much bloodshed, mainstream Israelis and Palestinians are ready for it.

But they won’t have it unless the Palestinians establish a unity government, something the United States and Israel oppose. Both Washington and Jerusalem went out of their way this week to express indifference to the negotiations taking place in Yemen between the various Palestinian factions, indifference coupled with warnings to Abbas not to even think about a Palestinian unity government. By himself, however, Abbas cannot deliver the Palestinians—not when Gaza is under Hamas control. And Israelis won’t make the “painful sacrifices” Cheney alluded to unless they know that an agreement—whether on a cease-fire or on final status issues—is binding on Hamas as well as on Fatah.

[..] That is why Olmert and Abbas can’t move ahead with their agreement; it is unenforceable unless Hamas signs on.

So I guess you know who is lobbying for bring Hamas in from the cold.