Conflict Blotter

To mark Condi’s seventh trip to the region this year, I’m going to jot down some thoughts on the nascent peace process and the Annapolis confererence slated for late November or December. First, people still aren’t taking this very seriously by and large, despite Condi’s warnings to journalists on Monday. Palestinians, Israelis, journalists, etc, tend […]

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Asharq Alawsat reports today (arabic) that Hamas has announced a new plan to share control over the security services in Gaza. The short of it: Hamas will temporarily transfer responsibility for the security services, presidential headquarters and all the crossings into Gaza to the Egyptian government, until the security services can be reconstituted along national […]

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Though it seems a bit premature, there’s been an uptick this week in speculation about who will succeed President Abbas. Abbas’ term isn’t up for another 18 months and early elections are off the table, but a failed November peace conference could change all that.
Marwan Barghouti is of course one of the names most often […]

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Yesterday and again today the Israeli press is awash with reports that Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas have been secretly toiling away at final status talks in recent months.
Yediot Aharanot reported yesterday that the two planned to present a joint document on the core issues at a US sponsored peace conference in November.
The two [Olmert […]

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Israeli PM Ehud Olmert’s decision to release 250 prisoners is no service to Abbas. The number is paltry compared with the 12,000 Palestinian prisoners currently languishing in Israeli jails. And why were only Fatah prisoners included in the release? It’s one thing to ignore Hamas for the time being, but what about the PFLP or […]

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At today’s summit in Sharm al Sheikh look for Israel to make a number of minor concessions to Abbas, such as increased security cooperation, shipments of armoured cars and bulletproof vests to West Bank security forces, issuing more VIP permits to Palestinian businessmen, and the release of more Palestinian tax dollars.
But Olmert has already indicated […]

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Heads have started rolling after Gaza debacle as Abbas dismisses Rashid Abu Shibak as head of the Preventative Security service and ordered the Palestinian national security council dissolved. Mohammad Dahlan’s job looks secure. Shibak, Dahlan, and Samir Masharawi, another powerful Fatah leader in Gaza, were all out of Gaza in the runup to and during […]

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There’s been some buzz about the latest poll from the Ramallah-based Near East Consulting:
Who do Palestinians trust more?
Abbas: 62% up from 59% in May.
Haniya: 38% down from 41% in May.

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I spoke with a new minister in Abbas’ emergency government of technocrats yesterday. Transportation Minister Mashhour Abu Daka is a balding and bespectacled mechanical engineer with a PhD from the Imperial College in London. Like most of the newly appointed government in Ramallah he is apolitical and little known to most Palestinians.
The thrust of […]

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