[Los Angeles Times] Aaron David Miller - In the West Bank, a Palestinian Humpty Dumpty offers itself up as a prospective peace partner for Israel. Abbas and Fayyad are good, reasonable men who know that history compels them to do pragmatic diplomacy. But although they have the incentive to make peace with Israel, they do not have the power. Hamas, on the other hand, has the power but not the incentive to settle with Israel. Empowering Abbas makes sense on paper, but it is beyond the capacity of this Israeli government or even the U.S. The writer, a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, served as a U.S. Middle East negotiator.
2009-09-25 08:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive