Word: olmert
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Gaza Strip last August, many people on both sides dared to think that tranquility would follow. But since Hamas was voted into power last January, international aid to the Palestinian Authority has been suspended and hope for negotiations between the two sides has faded. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has pledged to withdraw from parts of the West Bank, and to complete construction of a security wall to separate Israel from the Palestinians. Meanwhile, the near-daily exchanges of rockets and artillery between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip have left civilians on both sides caught...
...Europeans are trying to keep alive prospects, however dim, for a two-state solution by insisting that Israel must first seek a negotiated solution with President Abbas before moving to unilaterally redraw its boundaries; that message was reiterated to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Monday during talks with his British counterpart, Tony Blair. But while the Western governments may imagine that the popularly elected Hamas government can simply be bypassed, Abbas understands that he can't deal without a popular mandate. As a result, he's decided to try to gain one by risking everything on a political fight...
...threatens to do under the combined weight of Palestinian infighting, Western financial pressure and Israeli bombardment, then Israel will find itself living alongside something akin to a failed state, not unlike Somalia. If so, the dangers to Israel - and the West - will grow no matter how tight a border Olmert maintains...
...answer, perhaps, is that Abbas believes that adopting the prisoners' plan will negate Israel's claim that it has no Palestinian negotiating partner, making it more difficult for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to move ahead with plans to unilaterally redraw Israel's borders. But there's clearly a domestic political agenda, too: The grassroots-level Fatah warlords on whose support Abbas is increasingly dependent have, ever since they lost the January election to Hamas, agitated for an aggressive strategy to topple the new government...
...that respect, Abbas may simply be looking to outflank Olmert by denying Israel the space to claim there is no Palestinian negotiating partner. But Olmert can comfortably agree to talk to Abbas, insisting that the Palestinian leader first implement his obligations under President Bush's "roadmap," which requires that the Palestinians dismantle the armed factions before any talk of borders can begin. It's a relatively safe bet that four to six months from now, Olmert will tell Bush that he gave it his best shot, but just couldn't make any progress with Abbas. At that point, when Olmert...