Fatah's Troubles Highlight Obvious Problems With "Peace Process"

You can't have a peace process unless you have two sides committed to having a lasting and durable peace agreement. That isn't the case with Israel's enemies. The Palestinians, whether they are Hamas or Fatah followers simply do not recognize Israel's right to exist.

One of Mahmoud Abbas's close associates publicly states what I've been saying all along; Fatah is not interested in peace with Israel.

Meanwhile, Azzam al-Ahmed, a prominent Fatah figure closely associated with Abbas, declared that Fatah had never recognized Israel's right to exist and would never do so.

"Fatah is a liberation movement," he said. "Fatah cares only about the interests of the Palestinian people."

Ahmed's remarks came in response to charges by Hamas and other Palestinian factions that Fatah had not gained anything after its leaders signed the Oslo Accords with Israel.

There are also concerns that various factions in Fatah are fighting for supremacy in the wake of Abbas' announcement that he would not run for the presidency again. While I believe that it was a ploy to get Israel and/or the US to make further concessions, Abbas would have to carry through with his threat to make it actually work, and hardliners are concerned that Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad may be attempting a takeover, a bloodless coup, while giving up the ghost of Israel's destruction. In fact, Fatah's thugs are busy engaging in threats and claiming Fayad is in the employ of the US or Israelis to discourage further support for even his most modest of proposals, which have gone no where because Fatah is no more interested in a peaceful resolution of issues with a 2-state solution than Hamas is. They've lived with the indoctrination for generations, and they will not give up that ghost anytime soon.

Even if Fayad's position is to be believed as genuine, he would face immense pressure from his fellow Fatah members, let alone the extremists to embark in a two-state solution.