Abbas resigns from top Fatah body

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas resigned Tuesday evening from the Fatah Central Committee and threatened to quit as premier, reflecting an internal split over negotiations with Israel, a senior Palestinian official said.

Abbas handed his resignation in to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, but the Fatah committee unanimously refused to accept his resignation, Israel Radio reported.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/314691.html

"see...im sooo upset...that i resigned !!.....

dont look at the fact i've done nothing.....

I resigned....didnt I ??"

In fact, I hope that he doesn't resign from the post as PM, although he threatens to do so. He has achieved something so far, but much more needs to be done. The inability to please everyone, is probably putting him at this juncture. If he resigns, all the momentum will be lost.

The cease-fire agreements are important. They are particularly important if they are in fact violated, as it seems Islamic Jihad has done: fair-minded persons will place the onus for the violation on the creatures who gave their word and broke it. This will reduce the number of persons willing to show an understanding attitude towards such violence, and make some Israeli reservations seem more reasonable.

Israel needs to capitalize on such developments by showing good faith in other directions, most particularly in halting expansion of settlements, even the so-called "natural growth" expansion of existing settlements. This will reduce the anger of Arab Palestinians, and hence reduce the support for violence among them, making it easier to isolate and destroy the armed bodies that violate the cease-fire: it will also greatly increase the standing of Israel among fair-minded onlookiers throughout the world.

Abbas has achieved much more than I ever thought he'd be capable of, and while I've never had an understanding attitude towards violence against Israeli civilians, a violation of the cease-fire by the groups who agreed to it will mean that the 'dismantlement' of that group will take on a much more limited meaning for me. I don't think Israel's doing as much as it should right now to show good faith. Outposts are being rebuilt and not being taken down, and I think creeps like Benny Elon and Liberman should be sacked for what they've done and said. Yr totally right about reducing the anger of Palestinians reducing the support for violence. People are going to be much more keen on dobbing in someone if the anger towards Israel is reduced, though I guess there's some sad-sacks around who will claim that the anger comes from a pathological hatred of Jews and has nothing to do with the way they've been oppressed...

Cheers...

Violet...

Extremists in the PA angering the moderates. They don't like Abbas's work for peace? They obviously don't want peace.

The Israelis will sequester him in Ramallah alongside Arafat.

seems like a more reasonable man, to me. Although he is known to have published a holocaust denial book in Jordan, he was also reported to have been born in Safed, Israel, which is today a rather transcendant community. He has a softer manner, but means business, from the way he seems to be going about persuing the promise of the Road Map.

He doesn't seem like the likes of Arafat at all.