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Help Abbas Succeed
(Baltimore Sun) Dennis Ross - Abbas must show he can deliver. Hamas is now trying to bolster its position and tie Abbas' hands in terms of acting against it later. Arafat remains a serious impediment to change, seeking to subvert Abbas by making competing appointments in the security apparatus, requiring the regional commanders to answer to him and not to Abbas or Dahlan, and financing anti-Abbas leaflets. For Arafat, Abbas' success is his failure, proving that Arafat was the problem. The Israeli threshold of patience is very low. No one questions Abbas' intentions, but Israeli officials fear he will retreat when facing internal resistance and are convinced he will act only if he knows the Israelis will otherwise. Abbas - and our Arab partners - must know unmistakably that granting time for developing capabilities does not mean not assuming responsibilities now. At a minimum, incitement must stop and whatever is agreed about obligations in Gaza or Bethlehem must be fulfilled. Israel has a duty to its citizens to go after "ticking bombs" if the Palestinians remain unable to do so. The U.S. is not yet in the monitoring business. For that, there must be a clear standard of performance understood by both sides. That does not exist today, and Washington must create it. Dennis Ross, director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, was special Middle East coordinator during the Clinton administrations from 1993 to 2001.