re: #147 Gus 802

If there doesn’t than why would Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have accepted the invitation today? Obviously Israel finds these talk in their interest. These talks are not regarding overal Arab-Muslim sentiment of Israel and instead will focus on direct talks between Israel and Palestine.

The point of course is that there won’t be complete resolution to this conflict because of these talks. As I stated I remain cynical however whatever good can come from it the better.

That Israel will remain in “continued defensive preparedness” will continue regardless of the outcome due to the hostility of neighboring states towards the state of Israel.

Israel has nothing to lose with talks. Talk is cheap. Israel knows that they don’t have a partner in peace and aren’t going to offer up anything that hasn’t already been discussed previously.

The real issue is that this may give Abbas more leverage - some token advance on the discussions (such as to hold further discussions or to loosen some security arrangements in the West Bank) may be seen as a way to improve Fatah’s standing vis-a-vis Hamas. The problem however is that Fatah doesn’t speak for all Palestinians and doesn’t control or have access to land in question - Gaza - that any decision or potential deal is necessarily limited.