On Friday, September 23, the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas—aka Abu Mazen—stood before the UN General Assembly and announced Palestine’s application for full status as a member state. In the light of the Arab Spring, which is a…
Tag: Abu Mazen
Netanyahu Stonewalls a Changing World
On the evening of Wednesday April 27, immediately after the Fatah-Hamas rapprochement was announced, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a message demanding that the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, choose between “peace with Hamas or peace with…
The New Abu Mazen?
American mediator George Mitchell is again en route to the Middle East in a mission to jumpstart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). Mitchell is trying to keep his grip on the rope that Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu grudgingly let…
Abu Mazen Throws in the Towel
Sixteen years after signing the Oslo Accords, the Palestinians have concluded that there isn’t any point in continuing the peace process with Israel. That is the only way to understand the declaration by Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) that he won’t…
Obama and Bibi: Political Divergence, Strategic Symbiosis
From the meeting between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on May 18, 2009, no wide-ranging agreement was to be expected. To judge from the public news conference, the encounter was a porcupine tango. Netanyahu flew…
Hamas Encounters Reality
WE’LL eat za’atar leaves, weeds and salt, but we won’t be traitors and we won’t be humiliated!” So spoke Ismail Haniyeh, the new Palestinian Prime Minister, who is thought to be among the moderate leaders of Hamas. Before a crowd…