Word: palestinians
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Monday, because right now Obama has little to show for his 10-month effort to revive a Middle East peace process. The Israeli leader's refusal to abide by Washington's demand for a complete freeze of settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem - and the Palestinians' refusal to enter talks without one - has left the Obama Administration's plans in tatters, with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas threatening to resign and pull the plug on the PA and the peace process of which it forms a part...
...despite his insistence that his move was no stunt, it's important to note that Abbas is not in fact threatening to leave the stage. "This is political theater," says Amman-based Palestinian analyst Mouin Rabani. "The Palestinian Central Election Committee is expected to conclude that the election Abbas called for in January can't be held, because Hamas won't allow them to go ahead in Gaza, and Israel won't allow them to go ahead in East Jerusalem ... So what he did today was announce that he won't be a candidate in an election he knows...
...steep decline over the past month, after he initially bowed to U.S. pressure to shelve U.N. discussion of the Goldstone report into alleged war crimes in Gaza at the behest of the Administration - he later reversed himself following a firestorm of criticism from within Fatah and the wider Palestinian public...
...Israelis and Administration officials suggest that the settlement-freeze issue shouldn't be allowed to get in the way of negotiations. However, in the eyes of the Palestinians, the Obama Administration's retreat on the issue signals that the U.S. is not going to pressure Israel for concessions it has been adamantly unwilling to make. Without such U.S. pressure on Israel, the Palestinian leadership believes there's nothing to be gained from talking to the hawkish Netanyahu government. From the perspective of Fatah, the almost two decades spent relying on U.S.-led diplomacy to deliver Palestinian national goals has delivered...
...even if Abbas' announcement was simply a shot across the bow of the Obama Administration, it carries within it a significant warning. The U.S. has operated as if the elements of a peace deal on the Palestinian side - with a pliant leadership that is politically dependent on the U.S. and an administrative and security apparatus that is ready to suppress the more radical elements seeking to confront Israel - would remain in place, passively waiting for a better day on the Israeli side. Now, however, Washington has moderated its demands on the Israelis, mindful that there's a line beyond which...