American President George W. Bush will press visiting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert next week to fork over to the Palestinian Authority (PA) hundreds of millions of dollars in tax money to prop up the standing of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Israel collects the money from taxes on Arabs working in Israel and other tariffs.
"We want to get back to the situation where the Palestinians can get something that they've been robbed of too many times, which is peace in their streets, democracy in their government, and the ability to move toward what everybody in the region ought to hope for, which is two nations, sovereign, living peacefully and side by side," White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters Thursday.
However, Edward G. Abington Jr., a former State Department official and advisor to Abbas, flatly stated Friday, "The two-state vision is dead. It really is," according to the liberal-leaning Washington Post.
The Hamas coup in Gaza buried the ruins of the dreams of the administration of former American President Bill Clinton for a "New Middle East"," which literally blew up with the outbreak of the Oslo War in 2000.
However, both the White House and the State Department made it clear Thursday that they are determined to use the Hamas overthrow for the benefit of Abbas. One of its arguments is that Israel has no fear of the money reaching Hamas because Abbas has dissolved the Fatah-Hamas unity government, although Hamas leader Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has rejected the move as illegal.
Washington also will argue that propping up Abbas will prevent Hamas from staging in Judea and Samaria a repeat performance of its Gaza coup, officials told news agencies.
Abbas last week said he would refuse to meet Prime Minister Olmert again until he releases the funds, which have grown to more than $700 million. The Bush administration pressured him several months ago to free about $100 million to bail out the PA, although Israel failed to receive in return a halt to incitement or terrorism, as promised by Abbas two years ago.
Criticism is beginning to mount against America's 15-year campaign to forge a PA-Israeli peace agreement. Robert Malley, an expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the International Crisis Group, told the Post, "The less we try to intervene and shape Palestinian politics, the better off we will be. Almost every decision the United States has made to interfere with Palestinian politics has boomeranged."
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters this week, "We have called on others in the region to express their support for President Abbas and those Palestinian moderate political elements who have foresworn the use of violence and who have an interest in reaching a political settlement with Israel via the negotiating table and...we're going to continue to support President Abbas."
Reporters covering the State Department have become increasingly skeptical of United States policy and asked McCormack if Abbas' authority is threatened. McCormack answered, "Thus far you have not seen any spread of the violence to the West Bank. You know, certainly everybody welcomes that. You want to see an end to the violence in Gaza. It's an attack upon those legitimate Palestinian institutions that are struggling to provide some law -- some semblance of law and order in the Palestinian areas, who are trying to come up to international standards of behavior."
The last major agreement between the PA and Israel was signed in Sharm el-Sheikh two years ago. Israel promptly began to carry out its side of the bargain and turned over to the PA complete authority over Tulkarm and Jericho, where the murderers of former Minister Rehavam Ze'evi were being held along with other convicted terrorists. After Hamas swept to victory in the PA legislative elections in January of 2006, Israel raided the jail in Jericho because of information that Hamas would free the suspected assassins.
Within a month, the first of a half a dozen suicide bombing attacks originated from the same area that the IDF vacated.
As Kassam rocket attacks continued to rain on Sderot, American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice several times pressured former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his successor Olmert to ease travel restrictions on Arabs in Judea and Samaria. These measures often were followed by fatal sniping attacks, mainly on teenagers waiting for a bus or ride on major highways.
Unknown Fate of Shalit and Johnston
Prime Minister Olmert has said in the past he would not make any concessions to Abbas until the PA frees the ID soldier who was kidnapped a year ago next week.
Abbas has said that he is alive and healthy but there has been no communication between him and the International Red Cross, despite Israel's honoring international law and allowing the organization to meet with three Hizbullah terrorists arrested in the Second Lebanon War.
The Prime Minister already has reversed his stand that he never would release any terrorists in return for Corporal Gilad Shalit, and the Hamas assault on Gaza may give Abbas more leverage for the United States to pressure Israel to free convicted terrorists "with blood on their hands."
Another kidnap victim is British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) journalist Alan Johnston, who was abducted in Gaza more than three months ago.
On the assumption that both men still are alive and in the custody of Hamas or aligned terrorists, Abbas will have to defer to Hamas demands in order to win the kidnapped victims' release.
"We want to get back to the situation where the Palestinians can get something that they've been robbed of too many times, which is peace in their streets, democracy in their government, and the ability to move toward what everybody in the region ought to hope for, which is two nations, sovereign, living peacefully and side by side," White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters Thursday.
However, Edward G. Abington Jr., a former State Department official and advisor to Abbas, flatly stated Friday, "The two-state vision is dead. It really is," according to the liberal-leaning Washington Post.
The Hamas coup in Gaza buried the ruins of the dreams of the administration of former American President Bill Clinton for a "New Middle East"," which literally blew up with the outbreak of the Oslo War in 2000.
However, both the White House and the State Department made it clear Thursday that they are determined to use the Hamas overthrow for the benefit of Abbas. One of its arguments is that Israel has no fear of the money reaching Hamas because Abbas has dissolved the Fatah-Hamas unity government, although Hamas leader Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has rejected the move as illegal.
Washington also will argue that propping up Abbas will prevent Hamas from staging in Judea and Samaria a repeat performance of its Gaza coup, officials told news agencies.
Abbas last week said he would refuse to meet Prime Minister Olmert again until he releases the funds, which have grown to more than $700 million. The Bush administration pressured him several months ago to free about $100 million to bail out the PA, although Israel failed to receive in return a halt to incitement or terrorism, as promised by Abbas two years ago.
Criticism is beginning to mount against America's 15-year campaign to forge a PA-Israeli peace agreement. Robert Malley, an expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the International Crisis Group, told the Post, "The less we try to intervene and shape Palestinian politics, the better off we will be. Almost every decision the United States has made to interfere with Palestinian politics has boomeranged."
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters this week, "We have called on others in the region to express their support for President Abbas and those Palestinian moderate political elements who have foresworn the use of violence and who have an interest in reaching a political settlement with Israel via the negotiating table and...we're going to continue to support President Abbas."
Reporters covering the State Department have become increasingly skeptical of United States policy and asked McCormack if Abbas' authority is threatened. McCormack answered, "Thus far you have not seen any spread of the violence to the West Bank. You know, certainly everybody welcomes that. You want to see an end to the violence in Gaza. It's an attack upon those legitimate Palestinian institutions that are struggling to provide some law -- some semblance of law and order in the Palestinian areas, who are trying to come up to international standards of behavior."
The last major agreement between the PA and Israel was signed in Sharm el-Sheikh two years ago. Israel promptly began to carry out its side of the bargain and turned over to the PA complete authority over Tulkarm and Jericho, where the murderers of former Minister Rehavam Ze'evi were being held along with other convicted terrorists. After Hamas swept to victory in the PA legislative elections in January of 2006, Israel raided the jail in Jericho because of information that Hamas would free the suspected assassins.
Within a month, the first of a half a dozen suicide bombing attacks originated from the same area that the IDF vacated.
As Kassam rocket attacks continued to rain on Sderot, American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice several times pressured former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his successor Olmert to ease travel restrictions on Arabs in Judea and Samaria. These measures often were followed by fatal sniping attacks, mainly on teenagers waiting for a bus or ride on major highways.
Unknown Fate of Shalit and Johnston
Prime Minister Olmert has said in the past he would not make any concessions to Abbas until the PA frees the ID soldier who was kidnapped a year ago next week.
Abbas has said that he is alive and healthy but there has been no communication between him and the International Red Cross, despite Israel's honoring international law and allowing the organization to meet with three Hizbullah terrorists arrested in the Second Lebanon War.
The Prime Minister already has reversed his stand that he never would release any terrorists in return for Corporal Gilad Shalit, and the Hamas assault on Gaza may give Abbas more leverage for the United States to pressure Israel to free convicted terrorists "with blood on their hands."
Another kidnap victim is British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) journalist Alan Johnston, who was abducted in Gaza more than three months ago.
On the assumption that both men still are alive and in the custody of Hamas or aligned terrorists, Abbas will have to defer to Hamas demands in order to win the kidnapped victims' release.