Condi's Salvage Mission

It seemed like the most craven of climb-downs. If you listen to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's remarks today in Jerusalem, it sounded like Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had reversed a statement made less than 24 hours before in which he vowed not to re-start peace talks until the Israelis agreed on a truce with militants in Gaza. According to Rice, Abbas “intended to resume negotiations”.

The view from Ramallah wasn't so black and white, as usual. Insiders say Rice, in heated talks yesterday with Abbas, threatened to cut off all international aid and support to the Palestinian Authority. Privately, Palestinian advisers say that Abbas was aghast at how Rice had failed to understand the level of outrage in the Arab world, and particularly among Palestinians, over the heavy civilian casualties that resulted in Israel's fierce air and ground assault last week in Gaza.

Abbas himself was moved to donate blood to the wounded –-never mind that with the Israeli blockade on Gaza, there was absolutely no way for the president's precious blood to reach any of his injured citizens.

As a sop to Rice, and no doubt to avoid any withholding of money to the Palestinian Authority in a fit of pique, Abbas agreed to a “face-saver” for Rice. This way, she wouldn't have to return to the White House empty-handed. And that face-saver was that the Palestinians would agree to sit in on three-way talks with an American general who is supposed to be assessing –-think of a mid-term Report Card—how well the Israelis and the Palestinians are complying with the conditions laid down in the Bush's dusty and long-neglected Road Map. It's hard to imagine that the meeting will yield anything but ugly, mutual recriminations. Beyond that, Abbas will agree to nothing. He has his own ‘face' to save among Palestinians,not to mention his skin..

Rice's despair with Abbas, and the alarm that she evinces over any possibility that he might strike a deal with Hamas militants in Gaza, is all the more understandable after reading the Vanity Fair article this month on Gaza. It chronicles the steps that the State Department undertook to topple Hamas, which, as Rice likes to forget, was freely and fairly elected to in Jan. 2006 to run the Palestinian government. This support even went so far as to bankroll and arm (through Arab friends) pro-Abbas security forces that carried out torture in Gaza.

Everyone knows how the story ends: Hamas struck back last summer and ran Abbas' thugs out of the Strip. No matter how hard Rice tries, she can't put Abbas back together again. And now it's up to the Israelis to take on Hamas, because U.S. plans to do it by arming Abbas' men in Gaza failed disgracefully.

---by Tim McGirk/Jerusalem