Aaron David Miller got op-ed space in the LA Times questioning Mahmoud Abbas’ support for the prisoners’ peace initiative:
The problem, however, is that the prisoners’ document that Abbas sees as the vehicle of his deliverance will only muddy the clarity of his own stand against terrorism and for negotiations — the very positions that make him credible with Israel and the U.S….
Indeed, it reopens vital questions about Israel’s right to exist and about Palestinian endorsement of terrorism and violence that should have been laid to rest by now. Abbas risks locking himself into positions that raise serious doubts about his own moderate intentions and could formally link him to prospective partners and committees (the document calls for the creation of a committee to direct resistance in the occupied territories) that will undermine his own approach toward negotiations.
