The Third Man

In late May President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu delivered two speeches each in Washington, debating how to understand events in the Middle East. But the third man was missing: Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the PLO, the Palestinian Authority, and the Fatah party.

Abbas’s decision to embrace a unity government with the terrorist group Hamas was, nevertheless, what lay behind the events in Washington. In an article in this week’s edition of The Weekly Standard, I examine what happened in Washington and the choices that lie ahead for Abbas, Netanyahu, and Obama. In brief, I call Abbas’s tenure as Palestinian leader disastrous, and argue that there can be no hope for peace negotiations right now. What’s more, the very real progress that has been made under the leadership of PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is now in danger of being reversed.