By Ted Belman
In To hell in a Handbasket, I wrote,
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What I predict will happen now is a new process whereby Hamas is brought back into the fold. Saudi Arabia has always wanted this. Thus the only agreement possible will be a hudna and it will be called a peace agreement.
Now Zvi Bar’el in his recent analysis in Haaretz, reports “Annapolis summit will bring Hamas back into the fold
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The Hamas chief in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, may not have been invited to attend the Annapolis peace conference, but the group’s presence there will be felt precisely because of its absence. The low expectations on the outcome of the conference, and its failure, may serve as a platform for renewed negotiations between Fatah and Hamas. Once the summit is over, it will be impossible to continue ignoring Hamas. Hamas and Fatah are still clashing on the ground, but Egypt is preparing for a meeting of representatives of the two Palestinian factions, with Saudi Arabia’s blessing.
Aside from that where does it leave the US strategy? Bankrupt.
Pursuant to this strategy, Israel
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– allowed thousands of rifles to be supplied to Fatah,
– released hundreds of prisoners, some with “blood on their hands”
– transferred hundreds of millions of dollars to the PA/Fatah.
– allowed the CIA to train Fatah for over a decade.
– fostered the belief among Palestinians that they could offer nothing and get everything.
To bring Hamas into the picture now, is to accept that real peace is not obtainable. For this, hudna, Israel will be pressed to offer everything.
To top it off Stan Goodenough reports in Jerusalem Newswire
Abbas: Either Rice delivers or I quit
If efforts by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to convene a successful Arab-Israeli “peace” conference in Annapolis next month fail to achieve results satisfactory to the “Palestinians,” PLO/PA terror chief Mahmoud Abbas will resign.
The “terrorist in a tie” reportedly spelled out this threat to Rice during her visit to the Middle East last week.
Israeli analysts predicted that Abbas’ resignation would pave the way “for another round of violence and for the emergence of al-Qaida in the Palestinian territories.”
Once again, Israel must pay for US mistakes.
The US must strive for real peace and not a faux peace.
