Mahmoud Abbas, the comeback kid

In brief

When: Tuesday morning (EST).

Where: White House.

What: Bush-Olmert meeting.

On the agenda: Palestinian political horizon, Iran nuclear program, dialogue with Syria, strategic relations, money allocations.

Relevance: It's a ritual we need to go through every once in a while.

Abbas

Aluf Benn and I wrote today that "this week will be remembered not for Olmert's comeback, but for that of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas."

Yes, "the same Abu Mazen whose weakness was a source of laughs for Israeli officials, the same Abu Mazen who lost almost half the Palestinian Authority just last week, the same Abu Mazen who recently called off his meeting with Olmert in anger. That same Abu Mazen has suddenly become the object of Israeli and American hopes."

Boycott

The boycott was lifted today with great speed and not much deliberation. The Palestinians in the West Bank will get what they need from the international community, as Benn and I explain here.

Secretary of State Rice, announcing the end to the embargo said Monday that, "A fundamental choice confronts the Palestinians, and all people in the Middle East, more clearly now, than ever. It is a choice between violent extremism on the one hand and tolerance and responsibility on the other. Hamas has made its choice. It has sought to attempt to extinguish democratic debate with violence and to impose its extremist agenda on the Palestinian people in Gaza. Now, responsible Palestinians are making their choice and it is the duty of the international community to support those Palestinians who wish to build a better life and a future of peace."

Hamas

Underestimating Hamas, Benn and I wrote, is not a wise policy: "Abbas' comeback is likely to be short-lived, just as it was in the past. As the events in Gaza demonstrated, Abbas, Olmert and Bush are not alone on the playing field. They face devious and determined rivals - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Hamas leaders Khaled Meshal and Ismail Haniyeh - who have doubtless read the reports from Washington on the "new American strategy," and are doubtless figuring out how to ruin it, as they did its predecessor."

Our colleague, Avi Issacharoff, is already chronicling the political maneuvering of Fatah members, who are laying the blame of the failure in Gaza at one another's door.

"A group of senior Fatah officials from the West Bank recently began promoting an initiative aimed at persuading Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to remove his national security adviser and associate, Mohammed Dahlan. Jailed former commander of Fatah's Tanzim force, Marwan Barghouti, is among those urging the change."

Defense

Olmert might be meeting Bush here, but some of the headlines are stolen by the newly elected Labor leader there. Yoel Marcus writes that, according to Ehud Barak, "this speedy appointment wasn't his idea, but Olmert's, before his meeting with President Bush. At this meeting, which is especially important, Olmert wanted his chief coalition partner already in office. The American president has another year and a half to go. That isn't much, but it is enough to reach understandings on two issues: our joint interest in opening a channel of dialogue that will cut Syria loose from Iraq and Iran, and our joint interest in damage control in the territories."