Invite Abu Mazen to Jerusalem
The Israeli elections are now truly over. The coalition negotations are complete. The ministers are now sitting back in their departments getting used to their positions. In short, the time for governing according to an agenda has begun.
Olmert has explicitly stated that his objective over his term is to divide the land, whether by agreement or unilaterally. The time has now come to start the process.
Whilst Israel has rejected the legitimacy of the Hamas government, it has not closed the door to Abu Mazen. The time has come to talk to Abu Mazen. There is no harm as I see in inviting Abu Mazen to Jerusalem. He has a far stronger mandate then Hamas ever did having won 60-70% of the vote for president. His organisation the PLO is the party that have signed all agreements with Israel. Abu Mazen represents the only partner Israel has for a bilateral arrangement to divide the land.
And Abu Mazen wont be around forever. Maybe in years to come Marwon Barghouti who would agree to similar final status arrangment to Abu Mazen will come to the fore; but not at the moment. Israel needs to strengthen Abu Mazen. It needs to make the distinction between the president's office (Abu Mazen) and the government (Hamas) and deal with Abu Mazen.
Whether Olmert will invite Abu Mazen to Jerusalem soon is unclear. But there is no question that at least trying to get things going bilaterally is a hell of a lot better than doing things unilaterally. Israel has nothing to lose.
Olmert has explicitly stated that his objective over his term is to divide the land, whether by agreement or unilaterally. The time has now come to start the process.
Whilst Israel has rejected the legitimacy of the Hamas government, it has not closed the door to Abu Mazen. The time has come to talk to Abu Mazen. There is no harm as I see in inviting Abu Mazen to Jerusalem. He has a far stronger mandate then Hamas ever did having won 60-70% of the vote for president. His organisation the PLO is the party that have signed all agreements with Israel. Abu Mazen represents the only partner Israel has for a bilateral arrangement to divide the land.
And Abu Mazen wont be around forever. Maybe in years to come Marwon Barghouti who would agree to similar final status arrangment to Abu Mazen will come to the fore; but not at the moment. Israel needs to strengthen Abu Mazen. It needs to make the distinction between the president's office (Abu Mazen) and the government (Hamas) and deal with Abu Mazen.
Whether Olmert will invite Abu Mazen to Jerusalem soon is unclear. But there is no question that at least trying to get things going bilaterally is a hell of a lot better than doing things unilaterally. Israel has nothing to lose.
posted by SJ at 2:59 AM
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