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The first thing the new President Barack
Obama did on his first day in office at |
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the White House back in January was to
telephone Middle East leaders including |
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Mahmoud Abbas. But if President Abbas
thought that meant the Palestinian’s |
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time had come he was quickly forced to
reconsider. |
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A lack of progress in the Middle East
peace process amid dead lock the Israeli |
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settlement building, is cited as the
main reason for his decision not to seek |
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reelection. US Secretary Of State
Hillary Clinton praised Abbas's efforts |
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and implied she has known about this for
more then a few days. |
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I saw him on Saturday. George Mitchell
saw him on Monday. In each of those |
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conversations he described in great
detail the challenges that he faces. And |
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we talked about his own political
future. I look forward to working with |
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President Abbas in any new capacity. |
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But praising Abbas now that he decided
to step down is one thing. The message |
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in the past months and in particular the
past week has been quite another. No new |
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starts, for example is unprecedented.
The praise for the Israeli Prime |
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Minister and his supposed limiting of
the settlement building in the occupied |
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Palestinian land and the US failure to
force the Israelis to freeze all |
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construction may have been the final
straw for Abbas. |
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The stated position of the United States
in relation to settlements and the |
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annexation of Jerusalem are well known
and appreciated by us. However we were |
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surprised by their favoring of the
Israeli position. |
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But Obama has been talking up a possible
break through in Middle East peace going |
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back to before his Cairo speech. That
early promise of engagement is yet to be |
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matched by action. And Palestinians now
fear Obama wont be able to encourage |
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Israel to make the other compromises
necessary to complete a final peace |
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deal. A leading Palestinian candidate to
fill Abbas's shoes. Put it this way. |
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I think this announcement is a serious
declaration of the failure of the |
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efforts for true peace process. Due to
the Israeli policy of expanding and |
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continuing settlements. And to the
failure of the United States to take an |
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impartial position. |
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So now Abbas has had enough and says he
won’t stand for re-election. It remains |
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to be seen if the US move to try to keep
him or prefers to look to the future |
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with another Palestinian head of State
in the early part of next year. |