Word: palestinians
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...This shortsightedness applies today to the Israelis, says the diplomat. "There is no policy. The idea is to hold on as long as possible against Palestinian demands," he says. Meanwhile, the Palestinians, especially the extremists among them, cling to the dream of winning back all the land up to the Mediterranean shores, even if, in their hearts, they know it's impossible. The moral of this story: As Middle East envoy, Blair will find Israeli and Palestinian leaders who are sadly lacking in vision and pragmatism. Everyone is waiting for the Baron...
...stately American Colony Hotel, whose gardens and Orientalist splendor could seduce him into thinking that he is indeed Jerusalem's new Pasha. But Blair may find himself pacing his Ottoman-era suite with nowhere to go: the Israelis will dodge him because he will demand concessions for the Palestinians, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will lie low because he is incapable of forcing the territories' militant groups to cease their violence against Israelis, or even among themselves...
...From the Palestinians' point of view, Blair has several strikes against him. For starters, he's nicknamed "Tony Bush", for his perceived closeness to the Texan in the White House. For many Arabs, Blair is tainted for having signed on, with unseemly eagerness, to the Bush Administration's misadventure in Iraq. He's also blamed for keeping silent, as the U.S. did for nearly a month, while war raged in Lebanon last summer, in the misguided hope that Israel might crush the Iranian-backed militants of Hizballah. Blair's great skill as a negotiator is that he can coax enemies...
...Shalit's captors want the Israeli government to exchange hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for the Israeli soldier. On Monday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he would release 250 prisoners from the Fatah group - but none from Hamas...
Robert Malley, Middle East and North Africa Program director of the International Crisis Group, agrees with that approach, warning that, even as they try to help Abbas, neither Israel nor the international community should aim at dividing the Palestinians. Olmert's move Sunday to release funds and improve life in the Palestinian territories, says Malley, a former Middle East advisor in the Clinton White House, is "late, but absolutely welcome, though it should be done with eyes open, not to marginalize or defeat Hamas...