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Has Obama Unmasked Abbas?

(Jerusalem Post) Dan Diker - The tireless efforts of Secretary of State John Kerry to broker a framework for further peace talks have revealed Palestinian red lines. They have also exposed fault lines within the ruling Fatah party that render Palestinian acceptance of the U.S. deal impossible. Abbas is exposed on three issues in the American paper: long-term IDF active presence in the Jordan Valley, an undivided Jerusalem and recognition of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. The irony in the Palestinian rejection of the American proposal on the Jordan Valley is that it was King Abdullah of Jordan who had insisted that the IDF, and not Palestinian security forces, defend the Jordan Valley up to the Judea and Samaria hill ridge facing Jordan. Jordan's insistence on Israeli troops in the Jordan Valley influenced the American position in recent months. Abbas faces a mountain of Fatah and Palestinian public opposition to any compromise on the U.S. framework deal. The "pro-Abbas" demonstrations in Ramallah, Nablus and Jenin that took place on March 17 were protests led by Fatah against any Palestinian concessions. The U.S. has unmasked the real Palestinian positions. Palestinian political and popular rejection of compromise and acceptance of the U.S. paper begs a larger question. Who will enforce any agreement on the Palestinian side? Abbas, nearly 79 years old, is in his 10th year of a four-year elected term and has no clear successor. The writer served as Secretary General of the World Jewish Congress.
2014-03-21 00:00:00
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