Tuesday August 10, 2010

I'm Predicting:

For the past few months Palestinian President Abbas has been complaining of the international pressure on him to resume direct talks with Israel.

Abbas has been saying over and over that Arab, Muslim and Western countries have put enormous pressure on the Palestinians. Almost every world leader has been pressuring him to drop his preconditions and just begin the talks. And Abbas has not hidden the fact that, of all the world's leaders on his back, the Obama administration has been especially aggressive.

Abbas thought he had Israel over the barrel - but he over played his hand, once again.

When the Vice President of the United States was embarrassed during his visit to Israel, Abbas took advantage of the situation and orchestrated a scenario that brought the public tension to its peak. He created a list of pre-conditions. He convinced the Palestinian people that the preconditions were important. And the masses believed him.

According to a poll taken in the Palestinian Authority, beginning direct talks would be a very unpopular decision - a decision from which Abbas may not be able to recover. But I think he has come up with a survival plan. Abbas will hold out, avoiding direct talks as long as he can, and then - he will blame his capitulation on Obama.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=halpern%2C+micah