Posted on 10/28/2008 11:20:00 PM PDT by jonatron
(IsraelNN.com)
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas announced Monday that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) has accepted an Egyptian proposal for unity Fatah-Hamas leadership of the PA. Hamas has accepted the proposal as well. The announcement was carried on the official PA news agency Wafa. Representatives from Fatah and Hamas will meet in Egypt next month to discuss the proposal and attempt to reach a final agreement. There are “no guarantees†that the two sides will reach an agreement, but they will make serious efforts to do so, Abbas said.
The Fatah group, led by Abbas, and rival terrorist group Hamas clashed in 2007 over control in Gaza, where most residents support Hamas but Fatah maintained control. In June of 2007 Hamas won control of the area in a brief round of fighting that ended with dozens dead and the flight of senior Fatah members from the area.
Prior to the 2007 clashes, Hamas and Fatah shared control of the PA, which was based in Ramallah. Since the clashes, Hamas has headed its own branch of the PA in Gaza, while Fatah rules the PA in Judea and Samaria. Sporadic fighting between the groups has continued and each group has accused the other of kidnapping and torturing its political rivals.
Israeli leaders have threatened to discontinue negotiations with the PA if Fatah and Hamas reunite. While Fatah officially supports peace talks with Israel, Hamas refuses to recognize Israel, referring to it instead as “the Zionist entity,†and continues to call for the country's destruction. Hamas also publicly encourages the murder of Jews in Israel and around the world.
Since Fatah took full control of Judea and Samaria in 2007, Israel has made several concessions to Abbas, including allowing the import of weapons for use by PA troops, releasing hundreds of terrorists from prison and removing hundreds more from Israel's “wanted†list and supporting the deployment of armed PA forces in several major cities including Shechem, Jenin and Hevron. The PA forces, which include former members of terrorist groups such as Fatah and Islamic Jihad, have been allowed to deploy in order to fight Hamas and prevent a takeover in Judea and Samaria similar to that in Gaza. If Hamas and Fatah reunite, the weapons and control over PA troops may be split between both groups.
Looking forward to “pie” if Obama wins. Hostilities will begin anew if Obama loses.
Sorry about the mangled quotation marks!
Sources: Sarkozy views Obama stance on Iran as ‘utterly immature’
By Barak Ravid
Tags: Israel News, Nicolas Sarkozy
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is very critical of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama’s positions on Iran, according to reports that have reached Israel’s government.
Sarkozy has made his criticisms only in closed forums in France. But according to a senior Israeli government source, the reports reaching Israel indicate that Sarkozy views the Democratic candidate’s stance on Iran as “utterly immature” and comprised of “formulations empty of all content.”
Obama visited Paris in July, and the Iranian issue was at the heart of his meeting with Sarkozy. At a joint press conference afterward, Obama urged Iran to accept the West’s proposal on its nuclear program, saying that Iran was creating a serious situation that endangered both Israel and the West.
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According to the reports reaching Israel, Sarkozy told Obama at that meeting that if the new American president elected in November changed his country’s policy toward Iran, that would be “very problematic.”
Until now, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany have tried to maintain a united front on Iran. But according to the senior Israeli source, Sarkozy fears that Obama might “arrogantly” ignore the other members of this front and open a direct dialogue with Iran without preconditions.
Following their July meeting, Sarkozy repeatedly expressed disappointment with Obama’s positions on Iran, concluding that they were “not crystallized, and therefore many issues remain open,” the Israeli source said. Advisors to the French president who held separate meetings with Obama’s advisors came away with similar impressions and expressed similar disappointment.
According to the Israeli source, Sarkozy plans to begin intensive negotiations with the new American administration, regardless of whether it is headed by Obama or Republican Sen. John McCain, even before the new president takes office in January, with the goal of persuading him to continue the current policy on Iran.
But Sarkozy’s pessimism does not stem only from Obama’s stance; it also stems from the overall behavior of the international community toward Iran’s nuclear program, and particularly its inability to agree on a fourth round of Security Council sanctions against the Islamic Republic. This foot-dragging will make it impossible to effect a change in Iran’s nuclear policy, Sarkozy believes.
The French intelligence community believes that Iran has already obtained about 40 percent of the enriched uranium it would need for its first bomb, and that at its current rate, it will obtain the rest of the uranium it needs in the spring or summer of 2009.
However, French agencies are divided over what Iran is likely to do once it has this uranium. One view is that the Iranians will immediately make a nuclear bomb, in order to demonstrate their capability. The other is that Iran will continue enriching uranium without making a bomb - at least until it has enough enriched uranium for several bombs.
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