Mahmoud Abbas has to stay home. As things stand right now, he must not go to Washington. Even his meetings with Ehud Olmert are gradually turning into a disgrace and have become a humiliation for his people. Nothing good will come of them.
It has become impossible to bear the spectacle of the Palestinian leader's jolly visits in Jerusalem, bussing the cheek of the wife of the very prime minister who is meanwhile threatening to blockade a million and a half of his people, condemning them to darkness and hunger.
If Abu Mazen were a genuine national leader instead of
a petty retailer, he would refuse to participate in
the summit and any other meetings until the blockade
of Gaza is lifted. If he were a man of truly historic
stature he would add that no conference can be held
without Ismail Haniyeh, another crucial Palestinian
representative. And if Israel really wanted peace, not
only an "agreement of principles" with a puppet-leader
that will lead nowhere, it should respect Abbas'
demand.
Israel should aspire for Abu Mazen to be
considered a leader in the eyes of his people, not
only a marionette whose strings are pulled by Israel
and the United States, or affected by other short-term
power plays.
Right now power rests with the powerless Abu Mazen.
Since Washington - and perhaps Jerusalem as well -
badly want the photo-op otherwise known as a "peace
summit" to show off an "achievement," Abu Mazen could and should threaten to boycott the meeting to try and force some achievement on behalf of his people.
Palestinians live in Gaza, too - an area controlled by
Hamas, which Abu Mazen so loathes: He cannot continue to ignore the inhumane conditions in which Gazans live, caged in by Israel.
But the impression Abu Mazen makes is that he's no
more than a political survivor. He's participating in
the American-Israeli masked ball not because of
naivete or weakness - for him, Gaza is just as
"hostile territory" as Israel is. Therefore, he shares
a shameful common interest with Israel, which will do
neither side any good. Judging by his behavior Abu
Mazen not only doesn't object to what Israel is doing
in Gaza, he may even agree with the twisted doctrine
arguing that cruel pressure will subdue Hamas and
return the people to Fatah's embrace. In so doing, Abu
Mazen proves that he's no "downy chick," as Ariel
Sharon once put it, but a cynical rooster who cares
little for the welfare of his people.
A genuine peace conference should involve all the
hawks. Peace is forged between bitter enemies. The
question of whether Saudi Arabia will take part in the
summit or not is futile unless it includes real
Palestinian representation. At most Abu Mazen
represents only half of his people and could achieve,
at best, half an agreement that wouldn't survive
anyhow, given Hamas' strong opposition. It is in the
interests of all the parties involved, including Abu
Mazen, to drag Hamas to the negotiation table. A peace
conference without Hamas and without Syria is a joke.
But the short-sighted coalition of the royal
triumvirate, Jerusalem-Washington-Ramallah, is trying
to promote a false vision of "peace talks" without the
decisive partners, while the world is busy applauding
this illusion.
Obviously, it is hard to expect from Abu Mazen that he
will rise above his narrow interests and call for an
invitation to be issued to Hamas, the party that was
democratically elected to lead the Palestinian
government. But the least one could expect from the
person with the lofty title of "President of the
Palestinian Authority" is to strive for the greater
good of all his people, especially in light of the
extent of their distress. But instead of acting to
bring about a cessation of hostilities and opening
Gaza to the world, the triumvirate is busy formulating
yet another position paper that won't be worth the
paper it's written on and that will soon find itself
in the garbage bin of history, along with its
predecessors. It will only serve to impose
increasingly cruel hardships on the people of Gaza.
Abu Mazen must not participate in this farce.
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