At last someone points out that the emperor has no clothes at all. By Julie Stahl for CNSNews.com, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – The upcoming Israeli-Palestinian-U.S. summit is intended to “crystallize” the political horizon with the goal of helping Palestinian moderates, an Israeli official said on Tuesday. But at least one government minister thinks the point of the summit should be to expose Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas as a deceiver.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas are scheduled to meet next Monday to discuss ways of moving the political process forward. Their meeting comes about two weeks after Abbas’ Fatah faction agreed to form a national unity government with the radical Hamas group.
Olmert and Abbas already have clashed over the agenda of the summit, the Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported on Tuesday.
Quoting unnamed government sources, the paper said that Olmert was refusing to discuss final status issues at the summit. Those include the status of Jerusalem, the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, and an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.
Those contentious issues were supposed to be discussed during the second and third phases of the road map peace plan. But the two sides got bogged down in the first phase, which called for (among other things) the dismantling of the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas. It never happened.
Regev said it’s clear that the only way for Israel and the Palestinians to make progress is through the road map, and that means the Palestinians must do their part to put an end to terrorism.
If the Palestinians agree to move forward on the road map, there could be a Palestinian state soon, he said. But the Palestinian people must decide for themselves.
All Israel can do is to explain to the Palestinian people that political extremists, terrorists and Hamas can offer them nothing but more violence and a political dead end, while the moderates (Washington considers Abbas to be a moderate) can offer “tangible political progress,” Regev said.
Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Liberman believes that Abbas is deceiving Rice and the U.S., which has given its complete backing to Abbas in his power struggle against the Hamas-led government.
The recent “unity government” agreement between Abbas and Hamas leaders — does not meet any of the three benchmarks outlined by the international community, Lieberman said in a radio interview. Those benchmarks include recognizing Israel, abandoning terrorism, and abiding by previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.
Abbas is not a partner, Liberman charged. “This is not a unity government,” he said. “This is a Hamas government.”