And Yea, Verily, The Pigs Shall Sprout Wings

And fly like the wind. Oh, don't get me wrong, I would freaking love it if this pans out. But given the long history of saying one thing and then seizing any opportunity to fail to seize an opportunity, you can color me skeptical here. Mahmoud Abbas stood up in the UN and said his unity government would recognize Israel.

The Hamas-led Palestinian government that won elections in January has refused to recognize Israel, end violence, and honor past agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, which Abbas heads.

Abbas told the assembly's annual ministerial meeting that he has recently sought to establish a government of national unity "that is consistent with international and Arab legitimacy and that responds to the demands of the key parties promoting Mideast peace — recognition, ending violence and honoring past agreements.

"I would like to reaffirm that any future Palestinian government will commit to all the agreements that the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian National Authority have committed to," he said.

These include the letters of mutual recognition exchanged on Sept. 9, 1993, by the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian chairman Yasser Arafat, whom Abbas called "the two great late leaders."

"These letters contain mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO, renunciation of violence, and commitment to negotiations as the path towards reaching a permanent solution that will lead to the establishment of the independent state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel," Abbas said.

Please keep in mind that Abbas announced the momentary release of the kidnapped Israeli soldier a long, long, long time ago.

He hasn't been, has he? This is a sad pattern that should make anyone with any sense take anything he says with a grain of salt.

Other Links to this Post

1. Blue Crab Boulevard » Blog Archive » So Much For That — Friday, 22 September , 2006 @ 7:14 am