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Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sea_urchin who wrote (25575)	6/16/2007 2:35:55 PM
From: sea_urchin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81528

> More likely, in my opinion, is they will try to make a "unilateral" peace deal with Abbas concerning the West Bank -- and he could well fall for it. That will leave Gaza and the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon etc high-and-dry to stew in their own juice ... sfgate.com >>White House had considered feasibility of ceding Gaza to Hamas Washington -- Bush administration officials said Thursday that they had been discussing the idea of largely acquiescing in the takeover of Gaza by the militant Islamic group Hamas and trying instead to help the Fatah party of the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, retain its stronghold in the West Bank. The United States had quietly encouraged Abbas to dissolve the Palestinian government and dismiss Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, steps that Abbas announced Thursday, administration officials said. Before the announcement, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Abbas to reiterate U.S. support for the move, they said. "President Abbas has exercised his lawful authority as the president of the Palestinian Authority, as the leader of the Palestinian people," Rice said. "We fully support him and his decision to try and end this crisis of the Palestinian people and to give them an opportunity for -- to return to peace and a better future." The state of emergency that Abbas announced has underscored the widening rift separating Gaza, where Hamas has largely routed Fatah's forces, and the West Bank, where Abbas still has a strong base. But diplomats and Middle East experts said a "West Bank-first" strategy might now be the last option for Rice to salvage something from her plans to push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Many diplomats and Middle East experts said they read Abbas' decision as an attempt to cut his losses in Gaza and consolidate power in the West Bank. Israeli officials are promoting a proposal that the West Bank and Gaza be viewed as separate entities. Senior Bush administration officials said no decision had been made. Some State Department officials contend that the administration could only support such a separation if Israel agreed to make political concessions to Abbas in the West Bank, with the goal of undermining Hamas in the eyes of Palestinians by improving life in the West Bank. <<