United States president Barack Obama. Photo: AJN file

JERUSALEM — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has called on the Obama administration to negotiate with Israel on his behalf.

Abbas has proposed that the United States negotiate the final borders of a Palestinian state, according to media reports citing an unnamed Abbas aide.

Such an arrangement could help Abbas save face, since he has declared that he will not return to the peace negotiating table until Israel stops all construction in West Bank settlements, including eastern Jerusalem.

The proposal comes as US Mid-East envoy George Mitchell was scheduled to arrive on Wednesday evening (January 20) in Israel in another bid to bring the sides to the negotiating table.

It is believed that Abbas made the proposal recently in meetings with Egyptian officials, who relayed the recommendation to US officials.

Mitchell will meet separately with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu this week. Abbas is expected to discuss the idea with Mitchell.

JTA

CARTOONIST Kron comments on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas lobbying for recognition of an independent Palestinian state at the United Nations.

The late Yasser Arafat (left) with current Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Photo: AJN file

AHRON SHAPIRO

IN Ramallah earlier this month, thousands of Palestinians rallied at the tomb of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, in observance of the fifth anniversary of his death.

Amid the backdrop of the political troubles of his successor -– Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas -– the nationalistic spectacle raised the issue of leadership: Where are the Palestinian people today? Where are they going, and are they better off now than they were under Arafat, a figure who personified Palestinian national aspirations for nearly four decades?

Focusing solely on his post-Oslo era of leadership over the PA, Arafat was not a very good public servant by any measure. He was corrupt. He incited his people. He was a master at speaking out of both sides of his mouth – talking the language of peace to English audiences, while calling for jihad in Arabic.

He was accused of doing little to improve the lives of ordinary Palestinians, while he lived in palatial luxury on siphoned funds. He could be brutal with his internal adversaries, and kept a firm rein on power through a policy of intimidation and fear.
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JERUSALEM - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced he would not run for reelection.

In a live televised speech Thursday evening from his headquarters in Ramallah, Abbas said he would not run in the elections he has called for January.

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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on October 31. Photo: Isranet

JERUSALEM — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has praised Israel for offering “unprecedented” concessions on West Bank settlement construction.

The concessions include not building any new settlements or expropriating land for additions to existing settlements, according to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who was speaking at a news conference in Jerusalem on Saturday night with Clinton.

Clinton said a settlement freeze has never been a precondition for restarting negotiations.

“What the prime minister has offered in specifics of a restraint on the policy of settlements which he has just described — no new starts, for example — is unprecedented in the context of prior-to negotiations,” she said at the news conference.

During a meeting between Clinton and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah earlier on Saturday, Abbas reportedly rejected an Israeli proposal brought by Clinton that Israel be allowed to complete 3000 housing units and temporarily freeze other construction.
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CARTOONIST Kron comments on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas leading the charge against Israel at the United Nations.

The incredible shrinking Abbas

IT’S not easy to be Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas these days. First, he caved in to pressure from US President Barack Obama to attend a photo-op summit with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the United Nations in September.

Then, he apparently agreed to what, in all likelihood, was another US request to defer until March a vote in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on the Goldstone Commission Report on the Gaza war.
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AHRON SHAPIRO

DON’T feel bad if Tuesday’s meeting between US President Barack Obama, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu left you confused. You’re not alone.

There was nothing organic about the meeting’s origins, no breakthrough that led to the summit, no last-minute progress that preceded this occasion. So why did it happen?

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YITZHAK BENHORIN

WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama plans to convene a trilateral meeting between himself, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the White House announced late on Saturday night.

But Hamas’ prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said Abbas had no right to negotiate in the name of the Palestinian people and that they would not be obligated by any agreements made at the summit.

The meeting has been scheduled for this Tuesday in New York, and the sides are expected to discuss the renewal of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Obama is scheduled to be in New York for the UN General Assembly. Prior to the trilateral summit, he plans to meet with each leader separately.

“It is another sign of the President’s deep commitment to comprehensive peace that he wants to personally engage at this juncture, as we continue our efforts to encourage all sides to take responsibility for peace and to create a positive context for the resumption of negotiations,” said Obama’s envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell.

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