Sunday March 18, 2007

I'm Predicting:

The Palestinian unity government is bound to fail.
And there will be several important byproducts of the failed government.

Interesting byproduct # 1:
The Arab world has already convinced, to their chagrin, that the Palestinians have accepted the conditions of the Quartet. Now it remains to be seen if the Palestinians can convince the West.

Interesting byproduct # 2:
By joining the unity government Fatah has withdrawn its role as the alternative, opposition voice. Fatah has now been co-opted, it will be very difficult for them to regain their identity and standing among the masses.

Abbas/Fatah believed that if they joined the unity government their status would raise the status of Hamas and the Palestinians. The opposite happened. Hamas has tainted.

The unity government was a serious tactical error on Abbas' part.