Posted on 10/20/2005 6:55:52 AM PDT by SJackson
Hours before his meeting with US President George Bush, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel on Thursday of strengthening radical Palestinian groups that reject his peace agenda by continuing to isolate the Gaza Strip after the pullout and expand West Bank settlements.
"Unfortunately, Palestinians cannot pursue the road map alone," Abbas wrote in an article published in the Wall Street Jounrnal.
Abbas said he had done his part to pave the way to peacemaking by starting security reforms and generally maintaining a truce by Palestinian factions.
"Israel has created obstacles in the face of a full and unconditional return to the negotiating table and acted as if Israel can resolve the Middle East conflict unilaterally," he said.
Abbas said that even though Israel completed a withdrawal of settlers and soldiers from Gaza last month, the Jewish state was keeping the territory sealed off by land, sea and air from the outside world.
He said much larger Israeli settlements were growing at an accelerated pace in the West Bank, "the Palestinian heartland", and Israel was also continuing to build a barrier in the occupied territory deemed illegal by the World Court.
According to Abbas, he had created "a climate of peace" since his January election and that polls consistently show a majority of Palestinians wanted to live in a state at peace beside Israel.
"Yet this climate of peace needs the help of the US and the international community: For without sustained pressure on the Israeli government to sit down and negotiate, Israel will only bolster those within Palestinian society who do not share the majority's desire for peace," he wrote.
During their meeting, Bush is likely to insist that Abbas bar Hamas from participating in the January Palestinian elections but would not force him to disarm the terrorist group when the two leaders meet Thursday in Washington, US sources told The Jerusalem Post.
While Abbas is focusing on demands that Israel stop all construction in the settlements and allow for freedom of travel in Gaza and the West Bank, the Americans want to talk about questions of reforms and fighting terrorism in the PA.
The main issue in dispute between the Palestinians and US is the participation of the Hamas in the political process, a stand that the US seemed reluctant to take in September when Israel first spoke out strongly against the presence of Hamas in the January elections.
"It's Hamas or us," Prime Minister's Office spokesman Ra'anan Gissin told the Post on Wednesday, explaining that he expects Bush to tell Abbas the same thing. Israel cannot move forward on the peace process with Hamas, he added.
US sources said in recent days that the administration is not in a position to coerce Abbas into disarming Hamas before the elections, but that it will demand that the Palestinian Authority move to reform its election law, in a way that will make clear that candidates who support violence or racism, will not be able to take part in the elections. Such a provision is spelled out in the Oslo agreements and can be enacted if the Palestinian parliament adopts it.
The Palestinians, according to reports on early discussions between Abbas aids and administration officials, do not rule out the possibility of reforming the election law, but made clear that it is a difficult political issue.
Sources close to the Palestinian delegation said that Abbas would tell the Americans that in his view, the more the US and Israel talk about the issue of Hamas participation in the elections, the stronger the Hamas gets.
"He [Abbas] is going to say that he himself is the best judge of what is needed to be done in order to deal with the Hamas," the source added.
Sources in Washington said Wednesday that the Abbas visit, the second since he became the PA Chairman and the first since Israel left Gaza, is intended to be a "low key" one. It's likely to focus on maintaining the good relationship between Abbas and Bush and showing support for Abbas ahead of the January elections.
The Palestinians are likely to ask that the US pressure the Israelis to open the Gaza crossings, lift roadblocks in the West Bank and finalize the economic issues worked on by the special quartet envoy James Wolfensohn.
The Americans, according to US sources, are supportive of the Palestinian demands regarding freedom of passage in and out of the Gaza Strip and within the West Bank, and would like to see these issues resolved before the Palestinian elections.
Bush is expected to reject a request from Abbas that he take issue with Israeli settlement activity.
Abbas arrived in Washington Wednesday accompanied by the Palestinian Finance Minister Salem Fayad and by Foreign Minister Nasser Al-Qidwa.
Abbas, who met US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice late Wednesday, will also meet in Washington with Vice President Dick Cheney, the Senate leadership and with officials from former administrations. He will have only one public appearance, with President George Bush in the White House Rose Garden, and will leave the US on Friday morning.
The Washington visit was to have taken place following a meeting between Abbas and Sharon, but that meeting was cancelled and no new date has been set.
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Personally, I think the Abbas should stick to singing "Dancing Queen" and "Take a Chance on Me," and stay out of politics.
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