The Americans like Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. He is an extremely intelligent man, and U.S. personnel have dealt comfortably with him. The Israelis also like Fayyad, even Bibi Netantyahu, who believes that, if a deal can hold, it will be the P.A. PM who will hold it. Fayyad is, I am told by economist friends in Israel, practical, trustworthy, systematic ... and no patsy.
The problem is that the Palestinians don’t seem to like him or, what’s more important, trust him. Yes, you should ask, “which Palestinians?” The sad truth is that those who hate Fayyad are important Palestinians, very important. In fact, it is the Fatah movement, Arafat’s legacy. An article by Avi Issacharoff in Ha’aretz tells us all the details we need to know.
Does Obama realize the consequences of this hatred? (And it really is hatred.) Probably not.
Forget about Hamas in Gaza. They also hate Fayyad. But they hate Abbas, too. Does Obama realize the consequences of this hatred? Also not.