| Thus Vladimir Putin obliged incoming President Trump, disobliged France's struggling Hollande and the EU, and prevented Palestinian grandstanding in Paris. Their unity government should unexpectedly start falling apart moments after the ink on the agreement dries. |
| Optimist... |
"We have reached agreement under which, within 48 hours, we will call on [Paleostinian Authority President] the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
to launch consultations on the creation of a government" of national unity, senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad told a presser, speaking in Arabic.
After the government is formed, the Paleostinians would set up a national council, which would include Paleostinians in exile, and hold elections.
"Today the conditions for [such an initiative] are better than ever," said Ahmad.
| No doubt that's true. Meaningless, but still true. |
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
, and other factions.
Abbas’s secular Fatah and the Islamist terror group Hamas have been at loggerheads since the latter seized Gazoo in a bloody coup in 2007.
Last year the Paleostinian government postponed the first municipal polls in the West Bank and Gazoo Strip in 10 years, after the Ramallah-based high court ruled they should be held only in the Fatah-run West Bank.
The last time the Paleostinians staged elections in which both Hamas and Fatah took part was in 2006, when Hamas claimed an unexpected victory.
The Paleostinian representatives also met on Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and asked him to dissuade US President-elect Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
from carrying out a campaign pledge to move the US embassy in Israel from coastal Tel Aviv to the capital Jerusalem, which is also claimed by the Paleostinians as the seat of government for their future state.
"We sensed understanding on the part of Mr. Lavrov," said Ahmad.
| In other words, he made an odd little half smile and sent the girl off to fetch them drinks. |
Quartet... The Quartet are the UN (xylophone), the United States (alto), the European Union (soprano), and Russia (shortstop). The group was established in Madrid in 2002 by former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar, as a result of the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Tony Blair is the Quartet's current Special Envoy....
-- the foursome of Middle East peacemakers comprising the United States, Russia, the EU and UN -- in its years-long effort to end the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict.
"The Quartet’s work completely failed. It was unable to advance the decisions taken by the international community, including [UN] resolutions," said Ahmad.
"It is imperative to find a new working mechanism for the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict," he said.
Abu Marzouk, a bigwig in the terror group, said he no longer wanted to work with the Quartet but instead with countries and organizations on an individual basis.
"Russia can play a substantial role" in the region, he said.