Summing up the recent jockeying for power in the Palestinian Authority, an interesting analysis by Ehud Ya'ari in The Jerusalem Report.
The result for now is the creation of a cohabitation arrangement between Arafat and Abu Mazen, or as Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath elegantly puts it, "a mixture of a presidential administration and a parliamentary system." In other words, Arafat has not been relegated to irrelevancy. He has been neither sidelined nor bypassed. He holds significant power within Abu Mazen’s cabinet and, ironically, he will try to exploit the very apparatus built to neutralize him as a bridge by which to escape his isolation in the Muqata’a and regain international recognition. Every gesture made to Abu Mazen will require a parallel payment to Arafat. Any rope given to the prime minister will mean a little extra for the rais.
So Hamas will not be too panicked by Abu Mazen and Dahlan if it reckons the two don’t have the backing of Arafat. Even the armed militias of Fatah will ignore the orders to store their weapons in hiding places if it is not clear that Arafat expects them to obey.
And some warnings from Congress that, "Road Map" or no "Road Map," the proposed palestinian state is not yet a done deal.
"The House International Relations Committee has spoken in a strong, bipartisan way, laying out the strict conditions that the Palestinians must meet in order for the U.S. to consider recognition of a Palestinian state, including the permanent destruction of the terrorist infrastructure and a proven willingness to accept and live in peace with the state of Israel," said Josh Block, AIPAC's spokesman.
Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., the committee's chairman, said the bill offers the Palestinians a carrot and a stick. "We're trying to send a signal, and we hope it's a signal that won't be ignored," he said.
We'll see.
Shabbat Shalom.
