Palestine: Abbas Facing Pressure from His Own Party?

The Results of the Mitchell Israel-Palestine Trip: Nothing
Palestine: Palestinian Authority Scrambles to Regain Authority
Palestine Video: Gazans Throw Their Shoes at Abbas

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Tension between Fatah and Hamas increases. After Hamas's decision to postpone the reconciliation talks in Cairo, the Fatah Party's Central Committee has urged Fatah and Palestianian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to issue a presidential decree on 25 October for presidential and parliamentary elections.

Fatah's counter-plan is more of a rescue operation for the party itself, rather than for Abbas himself. The problem is now far more than Hamas' declaration that they would not shake the hand of the "traitor". Within the last two weeks, the furour over Abbas' blocking of a UN vote on the Goldstone Report on Gaza has turned many in the West Bank against him. Faced  with renewed corruption allegations against Fatah and a weakening position, Fatah elites are looking for a way to re-take the initiative.

Meanwhile, Abbas tries to regain his position by resubmitting the proposal for a vote on the Goldstone Report. He said:

The council must reach a decision to judge anyone who committed crimes against the Palestinian nation... I respect the majority opinion, and in the wake of everything that has happened, I have decided that the matter should be turned over again to the Human Rights Council!" Then, he defended his previous decision at the Council: "The decision to postpone [the vote] was a result of a consensus among the different parties at the Human Rights Council ... and in order to secure the largest number of supporters for any resolution in the future.

Both sides continue to blame each other for political manipulation of the Gaza finding. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior PLO official and adviser to Abbas, accused Hamas of exploiting the Goldstone Report to "damage national unity." In return, Hamas warned the Palestinian Authority not to declare new elections unilaterally. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that polls in the West Bank alone would further divisions between Palestinians.

Palestine Video: Gazans Throw Their Shoes at Abbas

Palestine: Palestinian Authority Scrambles to Regain Authority

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This video is from Gaza's streets on Wednesday. Protesters were angered the decision of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to defer a vote on the Goldstone Report, which found evidence of crimes during the Gaza War, at the United Nations Human Rights Council.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnFUy9SR5Ms[/youtube]

Gaza: Painted Donkeys Become "Zebras" for The Children

Israel-Palestine: Mixed Reception for US Envoy Mitchell in Tel Aviv
Israel FM Lieberman: Distance from US, No Agreement with Palestine

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Days after the statement of John Ging, the UN Relief and Works Agency’s top official, that “the number of Gazans living in abject poverty has tripled this year to 300,000 – one in five residents”, a poignant scene:

The two zebras of the the Marah Land Zoo died from hunger earlier this year, neglected during Israel's war in Gaza. As it was too expensive to bring in replacement zebras, the keepers decided to cover a pair of donkeys with black and white patterns.

Amidst signs that Israel-Palestine is even further away, we're not sure whether to be reassured --- as the BBC was with this "human interest" story --- or unsettled that tragedy could be covered up, not by the keepers with a bit of paint, but by the media with "Isn't It Sweet?"

Israel-Palestine: The US Mistake on the Goldstone Report

LATEST Palestine: Pressure on Abbas to Resign in Goldstone Report Furour
Israel-Palestine: More Clashes in Jerusalem
Israel-Palestine Inside Line: Hamas & Syria Criticise Abbas; Israel VP Cancels Britain Trip Over “War Crimes” Fears

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As EA's Ali Yenidunya updates on the latest fall-out from the deferred UN vote on the Goldstone Report on the Gaza War, Marc Lynch, in his blog for Foreign Policy, raises questions about the Obama Administration's decision to block the report:

I'm still trying to figure out the thinking behind the Obama administration's rapid moves to block the Goldstone report on the Gaza war.  Without even getting into the moral issues involved or the accuracy of the report, the most likely tactical considerations behind the administration's decision seem short-sighted.  Its move likely responded to the intense public and private Israeli campaign against the report, and probably aimed at winning back some positive relations with the Israelis and maintaining momentum on the peace process.

But if the administration's hope was that killing the report would make the issue quietly go away while winning some political capital with the Israelis, it is likely to be disappointed.  Quite the contrary:  the report is becoming a major political issue in the Arab world, badly damaging the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority, while Obama seems to be getting little credit from Israeli public opinion or the Israeli government.

Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority are already paying a heavy price for succumbing to reported American pressure to drop the report.  It isn't just Hamas criticism, though there's plenty of that.  This has rapidly become a leading issue in the Palestinian and Arab media, and is shaping up into a profound setback for the already weak PA leadership.  Virtually every sector of Palestinian opinion -- from Hamas to Fatah, from Gaza to the West Bank -- has united in harsh criticism of the move.  Even Mohammed Dahlan -- Dahlan! -- is positioning himself in opposition, showing where he thinks the political points are to be scored.  The Economics Minister in Fayyad's government Bassem al-Khoury reportedly submitted his resignation in protest.   Given his key role in pushing the so-called "economic peace" that Israeli and American officials are so keen upon, perhaps that will get more attention than the massive, broad-based criticism across the rest of Palestinian society.

There seems to be little question that Abbas's decision to go along with American pressure will have a significant impact on the popularity and legitimacy of the PA.  He is already backpedaling in the face of the intense public backlash, announcing the formation of a committee to look into the "circumstances surrounding the issue" (gee, wonder what he'll find when he investigates his own decision?), but it's probably too late.  Whatever gains made by Fatah after its Bethlehem conference and by Fayyad with the announcement of his agenda for a Palestinian state are likely to be washed away in this deluge.  The credibility of the Hamas narrative about the PA's collaboration with Israel and unrepresentative nature will be strongly enhanced. And it will not help Salam Fayyad establish authority that he has been fingered by some sources as the person directly responsible for the decision.

Why was the PA leadership put in this untenable situation?  The Obama team has consistently identified building Palestinian Authority legitimacy and capacity as a key part of its strategy.  Did nobody consider the impact that such an important symbolic issue as the perceived suppression of the Goldstone report would have on this supposedly crucial dimension of the strategy?

At the wider Arab level, the American stance on the Goldstone report has galvanized doubts about the credibility of Obama's outreach to the Muslim world and claims to genuine change.  The skeptics who demanded deeds to match words are having a field day.  As much as the inability to prevail in the battle over the settlements hurt Obama's credibility with the Arab world, at least he got some credit for trying, for prioritizing the issue and paying some costs to keep at it.  But the Goldstone report decision looks to most of the Arab public as a straightforward capitulation to Israel and abdication of any claims to the moral high ground. It will further undermine the Cairo promises, which look ever more distant.

Meanwhile, I have searched in vain for signs that the Israeli public or hawkish commentariat have given the Obama administration any credit for its efforts.  Israeli commentators seem to have simply taken the American protection for granted, or grudgingly acknowledged it in passing, without revising their views of Obama. The scornful, dismissive tone of the hawks towards Obama continues, while doves largely ignore it or disagree.  If there's been a concerted effort to leverage the decision to improve his standing with the Israeli leadership or public, I haven't seen it.

I can understand the decision to sacrifice the Goldstone inquiry into the Gaza war to tactical or strategic considerations, whether or not I agree with the call.  It wouldn't be the first time.  But I would hope that such a decision would have seriously anticipated the implications for the legitimacy and efficacy of the Palestinian Authority, for Obama's credibility among Arab and Muslim audiences, or for how to leverage it into real gains with the Israeli public.

Israel-Palestine: Gazans in Poverty Triple

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On Thursday, John Ging, the UN Relief and Works Agency's top official in Gaza, said that "the number of Gazans living in abject poverty has tripled this year to 300,000 - one in five residents". He called the rise in poverty a "predictable consequence" of the border blockade and added, "The suffering, the impoverishment, the misery of the people here in Gaza continues to rise because of a man-made crisis, a political failure."
Ging's statement casts light on "the West Bank success story" being trumpeted by Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren:

Imagine an annual economic growth rate of 7%, declining unemployment, a thriving tourism industry, and a 24% hike in the average daily wage. Where in today’s gloomy global market could one find such gleaming forecasts? Singapore? Brazil? Guess again. The West Bank.

In contrast Gaza faced, as Richard Goldstone told CNN on Wednesday, and "the delibarete address of Israeli bombs on factories", "Some of the killing…was certainly intentional. There was no mistake in bombing factories. The Israeli intelligence has very precise information."

With the economic situation in Gaza worsening day by day, what kind of settlement can rest on an "economic breakthrough" within the boundaries of the West Bank?