Iran has invited Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to take
part in the forthcoming Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran, scheduled
for 26-31 August. A foreign ministry’s spokesman later announced that Mr. Abbas
has accepted the invitation and will attend. Since the take over of Gaza
by Hamas and Iran’s support for the move, the Iran-Palestinian Authority relationship has
been practically non-existent.
3 comments:
This is in keeping with Palestinian leaders tradition of never missing an opportunity to make the wrong decisions!
The ascendency of HAMAS in Gaza was by election, not "takeover." The West Bank, on the other hand, was more of an actual takeover by Fatah.
In any event, the NAM conference happens to be in Tehran, and the decision by the PA to attend has a great deal more to do with its association with NAM than it does any political association with the IRI. But once there, anything is possible. Abu Mazen certainly hasn't made much movement toward a settlement with Israel under American patronage, particularly with the Obama administration. As such, the Iranian suggestion of a popular referendum to settle the Israel/Palestine question-- however unworkable in the present circumstance-- has to be looking more attractive, given how such a solution ultimately brought peace and settlement to South Africa in the early 1990s. .
Mark, the ascendancy began by fierce fighting on the streets of Gaza and take over of official buildings by Hamas. The election came later. This does not mean that Hamas is not the most popular force in Gaza, it is. But the PA-Iran relations started to deteriorate from the time those fightings and Hamas victory began.
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