[continued from previous message] 
  
 this blatant attempt to undermine their voice. It might 
 even harden support for Hamas and its allegiance to 
 principles. 
  
 If so, the policy must have been directed at the minority 
 response. What was the likelihood that deepening poverty, 
 accompanied by a bloody military siege and internal 
 strife, fanned and sometimes instigated by Israeli agents 
 and collaborators, would drive a sizeable number of people 
 to capitulate in the arms of Abbas? This was, after all, 
 one of the stated objectives of the project. 
  
 Politically, this would be considered "pushing a wedge 
 issue", a calculated effort to divide an electorate along 
 ideological lines, usually for one's own political gain. 
 In this case the electorate is not the constituency of the 
 politicians "pushing the wedge", but the Palestinian 
 people, the impoverished and land-robbed victims of the 
 modern world's longest running illegal military 
 occupation. 
  
 While Mr. Olmert and his wife recently shared herring in 
 lemon sauce with Mr. Abbas in a sunny East Jerusalem 
 villa, the PM's aides pulled out all the stops to project 
 the image of Abbas as "just like any other head of state". 
 They even (flouting the law) flew a Palestinian flag. 
  
 The Christmas "gifts" from Mr. Olmert included 100 million 
 dollars of the PA's own tax revenues, which Israel has 
 seized since the elected Hamas government took office last 
 March. Since Israel's take in this heist is now estimated 
 to exceed 800 million dollars, the pittance given to Mr. 
 Abbas had the air of hush money paid by organized crime. 
 Most of it will be used to pay down the PA's debtsuto 
 Israeli creditorsuand then only after Israel is satisfied 
 that Hamas will never see it. 
  
 As Olmert was willing to part with only one-eighth of the 
 Palestinians' money, he may consent to removing one-eighth 
 of the Israeli army's "roadblocks" in the fragments of the 
 West Bank where Palestinians are still allowed to live. He 
 also promises to make it easier for the people of the West 
 Bank to get permits to travel to their own orchards, or to 
 the next town or village, or maybe (mirable dictu!) to a 
 nearby city. In other words, Mr. Abbas has gained a slight 
 (and very likely temporary) loosening of Israel's 
 suffocating grip on the throat of Palestine. 
  
 In exchange, President Abbas managed to forget that Israel 
 has illegally kidnapped and imprisoned the speaker of the 
 Palestinian Legislative Council, at least 28 of the PLC's 
 elected members, and at least 10 government ministers, 
 half of whom it still holds. Does a "head of state" go 
 begging for crumbs from a foreign power that is holding 
 abducted members of his own government? 
  
 If Mr. Abbas were sincerely interested in forming a 
 national unity government with Hamas, he would not have 
 sold their prisoners of state so cheaply. Had he been 
 truly committed to democracy last March, he would have led 
 his defeated party into loyal opposition in the newly 
 elected Hamas government. By closing ranks with Hamas, 
 Abbas and Fateh could have shown the world that 
 Palestinians would obey their own constitution, work out 
 their own issues, and would not be prey to outside 
 interference or blockades. 
  
 Instead, he set out to commandeer the PA's security forces 
 and led Fateh into the disloyal opposition they have 
 maintained to this day. Lately he has taken the PA into 
 new constitutional territory by claiming the unilateral 
 power to call new elections. His Fateh-packed Supreme 
 Court recently declared that decisions made by the current 
 PLC are "null and void". Fortified by a significant new 
 supply of US weapons and training, Mr. Abbas appears 
 dangerously close to usurping both the Palestinian 
 constitution and the will of the people by pretending to 
 be the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian 
 Authority. 
  
 In following this course, Mr. Abbas has made himself 
 available to external forces that wish to make him the 
 ultimate spoiler of last January's free and fair 
 elections. The ultimate goal of these parties, Israel 
 foremost among them, may be to trigger Palestinian civil 
 war and fatally split the Palestinians' national 
 solidarity, their key to survival. Perhaps to this end, 
 the myth that Israel has "no partner for peace" is being 
 transformed into the myth that Israel has "only one 
 partner for peace", one that, under present conditions, 
 cannot claim to represent the Palestinian people. 
  
 [James Brooks serves as webmaster for Vermonters for a Just 
 Peace in Palestine/Israel. He can be contacted at 
 jamiedb@wildblue.net.] 
  
  
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