perfidy

Clueless has a short (for him) post up focusing on the recent goings on in the Palestinian leadership. I've been thinking a bit about this since Abbas quit.

When I saw the first news reports of his resignation my first thought was, "Damn, he just set made a huge deposit in his Karma bank." Clueless commented,

If another Prime Minister is appointed and forms a cabinet, and then Arafat is exiled, then as a practical matter the new Prime Minister will have far more control than Abbas ever did. I think Abbas was genuinely trying to work things out, and the next PM might not be willing to do so. But such a leader would not have the kind of grip on power that Arafat has, and would in turn be easier to replace.

I don't know for sure whether Abbas is genuinely interested in peace or not, but I am sure that this resignation not permanent. Abbas will be back, and the very fact that he resigned because Arafat would not give him the power to work with the Israelis will in the future give Abbas some serious world credibility. If Arafat leaves, Abbas will come back, and likely with the support of both the American and Israeli governments.

What he does with that power, we'll have to see.