The charade continues: Mahmoud Abbas, whose organization, you may recall, did not go into all-out civil war with Hamas, and who told palestinian TV just the other day that it is not necessary for Hamas to recognize Israel, is fooling the media again (including the JPost) by pretending to offer Hamas an ultimatum.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas plans to present the Hamas-led Cabinet with an ultimatum in the coming days to accept an agreement for a coalition government or head to early elections, an Abbas aide said Sunday.
In a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week, Abbas said he would travel to the Gaza Strip in the coming days for last-ditch talks on forming a joint government with Hamas, an Abbas aide said. If Hamas does not agree by the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan – in two weeks – then he will dissolve the Cabinet, according to the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.
My take: IF they call new elections, they have already picked who gets what positions. But I don’t think they’re going through with it. It’s all show for Condi and the EU. Abbas wants more money.
If anyone is keeping track of how many ultimatums this makes, feel free to post the number in the comments.
Baby Assad wants to play war games: The titular head of Syria is flexing his teeny little muscles (probably to go along with his teeny little other body parts) and talking about war with Israel. But talking about Syria fighting Israel reminded him that Israel could walk all over the Syrian army and wind up in Damascus this time, so now he wants his Arab buddies to help him beat up Israel.
Syrian sources in Damascus claimed that Syria was looking into an initiative that would renew the “Arab Joint Defense Treatyâ€, under which new systems would be established, binding member countries to defend other member countries that are under attack.
All snark aside, this is a pretty serious issue. Hamas is arming its people. Hezbullah now has a buffer-zone in the form of UNIFIL. I think the Arab world was emboldened by Israel’s refusal to run an effective ground war in Lebanon. The possibility now remains that Israel could fight a three-front war: Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza. In addition to that, there would be an upsurge in attacks in the West Bank. Things are far from secure, and my feeling that we are still in the midst of the next World War remain.
It seems clear to me now that other than Israel, the most potent military forces in the Middle East appear to be non-state actors. The states have the hardware, but the terrorists have the drive and will to use force.
I don’t see how that’s a state of affairs that can last. At some point Hezbollah or some other group is going to decide that they’d rather take over Syria or Egypt (or most likely, retake Lebanon) than keep blowing themselves up in Israel.
Hasn’t Abbas given Hamas an ultimatum before? And didn’t … nothing happen?
Assad’s saber rattling sounds more like Iran. He’s doing the same sort of things that Hezbollah did in the last 6 years.
The 3 fronts you mentioned, Meryl, while a concern, are not the worst scenario: The pallys are not an effective military force, and while Hez is, and Syria has a large army, they are close enough to allow the IDF to concentrate.
So as long as the IDF gets its act together in the wake of this summer’s war, Israel should be able to weather this storm.
Eric:
Hezbollah already took over half of Lebanon, and is just waiting for the shi’tes to have enough babies to allow them to get the rest.
And the pallys tried to take over Jordan in the late ’60’s. King Hussein kicked their collective ass in 1970.