In the Israeli dictionary, it seems that stopping the construction of settlements actually means the building of an additional 2500 housing units in the occupied territories, while approving the construction of hundreds of other additional units, before “freezing” the construction of settlements for six, or nine months. This would be a period long enough to allow for the tripartite meeting to be held in the United States, on the sidelines of the General Assembly of the United Nations, attended by Mahmoud Abbas, Benjamin Netanyahu and the American mediator. As such, President Mahmoud Abbas will be subjected to extreme American pressures should Netanyahu declare the suspension of settlement construction, without actually doing so. What Abbas wants thus is to hear the opinions of Arab leaders during the meeting of the follow-up committee in Cairo on the 18th of September, hoping that a unified Arab stance will be reached, which will be subsequently adopted by the Palestinians, all in response to the Americans. In fact, Abbas visited France coming from Spain, and received considerable support from the governments in both countries, as well as in every country he visited for the Palestinian position regarding the settlements. He then completed his tour by visiting Cairo, Jeddah and Amman, against the backdrop of the Israeli Prime Minister's novel position in which he claims to be responsive with America's request to freeze the building of settlements. However, the entire world saw that move as further defiance by the extremists in the Israeli government of the Obama administration, with the latter having clearly criticized the Israeli decision. Meanwhile, Abbas seems to be cautious in everything he does or says, and all I want to say in this regard is that I did not find him to be at all optimistic about the prospects of reaching a [peace] accord. In fact, he states that even if a tripartite meeting is to be held in the United States, this does not necessarily mean that the negotiations will be resumed, but rather, it would be merely yet another chance for the Palestinians to voice their opinion without losing the American support for the peace process. Conversely, other senior members in Abbas's circle are saying that Israel does not want peace nor does it actively seek it, and that Netanyahu instead is lying and swindling. This is because Netanyahu realizes that his government would immediately collapse if he decides to freeze settlement activities. In this vein, I want to say on behalf of everyone, that there is a fascistic government in Israel chaired by neo-Nazis, and that Netanyahu will disrupt all the attempts for peace by the Obama administration during the four year term of the Israeli government, just like he disrupted the efforts by the Clinton administration between 1996 and 1999. After I saw Abbas in Paris, I contacted the Secretary-General of the Arab League Brother Amr Moussa to ask him about the meeting of the follow-up committee in Cairo. He said that this meeting will be held in the light of the recent Israeli position in refusing the American initiative, and the American reaction (which had not appeared yet when I phoned Brother Amr yesterday), and the Arab consensus position that there can be no negotiations as long as settlement activities are taking place, in addition to the issue of Jerusalem and the Israeli aggressive efforts to change the city's Arab character. The Secretary-General said that while Arabs are indeed committed to the peace process, the issue of settlements will undermine this process because it effectively means the modification of demographics and the geography of the region where a viable Palestinian state is to be established. Moussa also confirmed that the Arabs are in consensus about not offering any compromises to Israel as long as settlement continues. This is regarding the negotiations with Israel or the non-existence thereof, but what about the negotiations between the Palestinians themselves in Cairo? It seems that the chances of their success do not exceed those of the negotiations with Israel. Abbas for instance, is stating that he wants the formation of a government of national unity that does not include ministers whose presence might lead to the persistence of the Israeli siege. This means that while he wants ministers that are indeed affiliated with Hamas, these must not be prominent and well-known Hamas figures, as the cabinet ministers will have to deal with Israel and the United States, which considers Hamas a terrorist organization. Furthermore, Abbas states that the formation of such a government, i.e. a non-partisan government of technocrats, will effectively mean that four billion dollars will become quickly available to rebuild what Israel had destroyed. Also in this regard, the Palestinian president declared that Hamas offered the extension of the terms of both the Presidency and the Parliament from two to four years, but that he rejected this, because he wants the people to choose, and that “whoever succeeds [in the elections] can rule the country”. In fact, Abbas is seeking that these elections be held under an Arab umbrella that ensures its fairness, and he prefers that a committee of observers from the Arab league or the Organization of the Islamic Conference, or even from the African Union, oversees the elections. Aides of the Palestinian president also said that some negotiators from Hamas agreed on the formation of a government with the primary task of conducting the elections while others opposed this. These aides added that Hamas will lose the elections in the Gaza strip and not only in the West Bank which is why the Hamas's leadership is trying to postpone the elections. Also, the countries that support Hamas, in particular Iran, do not want the Palestinian situation to become stable because they consider it to be a bargaining card in their negotiations with the U.S and the E.U. In the meantime, I found Abbas to be quite reassured by the European and American support for the Palestinian position, and when I asked him about the relations between the National Authority and the main Arab countries involved in the peace process, he used the word “excellent”, in reference to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria. Also, the Jordanian foreign minister Nasser Abu-Joudeh had met with Abbas in Paris, and briefed him on the results of his contacts with the Europeans and exchanged opinions with him. All I want to say in the end is that neither the progress of the negotiations with Israel nor their results is in our control. However, the responsibility for negotiations between the Palestinians lies purely on Palestinian shoulders.
