Abbas Caves in to Hamas

Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, had recently indicated that he did not want to run for re-election. The fact is that the clashes between Hamas and Israel, combined with his inability to negotiate any advances towards a Palestinian state, have left Abbas with low polling numbers, impotency and little chance of winning re-election.

To complicate matters, the ‘Arab Spring’ and the loss of Abbas’ ally, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, is about to have major consequences in the Israeli-Palestinian issue. So, it is no surprise that Abbas had to be willing to form a unified government with Hamas in order to politically survive and stay relevant. (See my earlier report at link: /story/593/395/Accepting_Israel_A_Must_for_Peace.html)

These new events put Abbas between a rock and a hard place, and he sees no other choice but to join with Hamas to fight for a Palestine State. He is determined that after decades of fighting for the PLO cause as a fund raiser, as appointed department head for their national and international relations, as one of the architects of the Oslo Accords under Arafat, and finally after Arafat’s death, as PA President, his life’s work will not be in vain.  His dream to deliver a peaceful Palestinian state to his people and become the state’s first elected President was on the brink of becoming a nightmare for him. What else was left for him to do but to unite forces and accept all of Hamas’ political conditions to form a unified government? And that is what he has done in his secret meetings in Cairo and Damascus.

The ramifications of this are already showing. Not two days after the last Cairo meeting, Egyptian foreign minister Nabil al-Arabi announced that in the near future Egypt was planning to lift the Gaza blockade. And, with the plans of a second ‘Free Gaza Flotilla’ of activists coming next month to the Gaza Port, Israel is also pressured to allow them thru. These actions will leave Israel alone to protect itself from weapons and terrorists being smuggled into Gaza thru Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Iran. The only hope for Israel is the continued support of the Quartet – US, Russia, EU and the UN – and their agreement that a united Palestinian government must recognize Israel’s right to exist as pre-requisite for statehood.

It appears that Abbas has caved in to Hamas’ reconciliation demands and will partner with terrorists as a path to Palestinian statehood.  I imagine he has come to believe that the ends will justify the means, and killing Jews will be justified.