Mere Rhetoric: Abbas: "If You Don't Give Me Everything I Won't Accept Anything"

This would be awesome:

Palestinian authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will not attend Washington's regional peace summit in November unless Israel agrees to a reach an agreement with the Palestinians there, Abbas' associates told Haaretz Sunday, adding the summit could "prove dangerous". With U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expected to arrive in Jerusalem Monday, the Saudis also submitted some preconditions for their attendance. The Palestinian sources were reacting to Olmert's statement that afternoon that Israel and the Palestinians will not present an Agreement of Principles on final status issues at the summit, but issue a joint declaration instead. "We are formulating a joint declaration to headline the regional meeting, should it take place," Olmert told ministers from his party, Kadima, in Jerusalem. "If Olmert says there'll just be a declaration, it's not worth going to this meeting in Washington," said Nimr Hamad, an adviser to Abbas. In an unusual move, the chairman's office issued a press release reacting to Olmert's statement.

First: The Saudis have set preconditions? This is just getting silly. The Saudis? Is this just a road trip of "hey, we're pressuring Israel to give away land - who's in"? Is Libya going to show up and start demanding security concessions?

Also: Abbas missing the November summit would be the best thing ever. It would redefine Abba Eban's old line about how "the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity" - a lame duck American administration, a desperate Israeli Prime Minister, and an entire planet hysterically searching for some way to pretend that legally elected genocidal lunatics don't control half of the Palestinian population.

Unfortunately, he's not going to boycott. This is all being done to give the State Department an excuse to put even more pressure on Olmert. Things have gotten so surreal that Israel has just unilaterally promoted Abbas from Chairman to President. That's how hard everyone's trying. But it's not good enough for the guy who can't prevent his own headquarters from being routed by half-trained Iranian proxies.

We do like how Abbas is threatening that a failed summit will destabilize the region. It might even cause Iran and Syria to start nuclearizing or Hezbollah to smuggle in supersonic missiles or Hamas to attack dozens of Israeli soldiers and thousands of Israeli civilians with rockets. And thus does it always continue with the Palestinians, as it does with children: the more pathetic and irrelevant they are the more hysterical and petulant they become. Seething resentment is an ugly emotion, and it's not without its own surreal dimensions.

References:
* Abbas threatens to boycott peace summit [Ha'aretz]
* Israel promotes Abbas to 'president' [JPost]
* Assad Was Planning To Use Nukes Against Israel (Plus: The Totally Awesome IAF Commando Operation That Slowed Him Down) [MR]
* Russia Gives Iran Cutting-Edge Anti-Ship Missiles To Give To Hezbollah [MR]

Previously:
* Mere Rhetoric: Netanyahu Launches Campaign to Oust Olmert. He'd ...
* Mere Rhetoric: Olmert Releasing Prisoners Now So He Won't Have To ...
* Mere Rhetoric: Hey, Guess What Happened Right Before Olmert ...