Thursday August 26, 2010

I've Been Thinking:

Palestinian leadership is preparing for direct talks with Israel. The United States has made it very clear that these talks must adhere to serious conformity with existing agreements.

So over the past few days the PA has been arresting Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists in the West Bank. This might appear to be a win win situation, but the arrests can have serious backlash.

It is win win because to the outside world it now looks like the PA is taking security seriously and is designating Hamas and Islamic Jihad as terror groups working to undermine them. But it might be a lose lose because these arrests can easily come back to haunt Abbas.

Abbas is already in a very precarious political situation. The public believes that Abbas is too compliant, that he too often does what he is told, that the US and Israel pull his strings.

Abbas is a survivor.

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