Walk Out

The Palestinians continued their long history of sabotaging peace talks on Wednesday, when they unilaterally declared recent negotiations in Amman a failure and walked out.

Naturally, the Palestinians were quick to blame Israel for their own unwillingness to negotiate. Official Saeb Erekat, for example,

made it clear that because Israel has not presented its position on the issue of borders with a Palestinian state, from the Palestinians' standpoint, the talks have ended.

Israel is in no way required at this stage to present such a position, nor was this a prerequisite for beginning talks. In the past, the issue of borders, being one of the most fraught and complicated problems facing the negotiators, has always been left to the final stages of negotiations.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who had previously claimed that the main problem was the lack of a settlement freeze, suddenly began using the same excuse as Erekat, telling Jordan's King Abdullah that the talks were over because Israel "refused to recognize the borders of a Palestinian state."

It seems clear that these statements are part of a coordinated response. Indeed, the Palestinians appear to have their next moves planned out in detail.

Next week, after the Arab League meeting, Fatah leaders are slated to convene and decide where the Palestinian Authority will be going next. It is expected that the PLO will try to renew efforts at the UN's Security Council and other international bodies in order to put more pressure on Israel.

Such tactics are by no means unprecedented for the Palestinians. Yasser Arafat used to regularly threaten to end negotiations if he did not get what he wanted. At the same time, however, it is perfectly logical for Fatah to adopt such a strategy.

Put simply, Abbas and his Fatah movement are in serious trouble, and cannot afford to make any concessions to Israel on any issue whatsoever, essentially making negotiations impossible. Even if Abbas wanted to reach an agreement, he cannot.

Hamas has now essentially consolidated its leadership position of the Palestinian national movement, and were Abbas not attempting to stall on elections, would already be in a position to officially take over the PLO and the Palestinian institutions of the West Bank.

In addition, the Arab Spring elections are sweeping away secular nationalist movements like Fatah and bringing Islamic movements to power. History, in other words, appears to be moving in Hamas' favor.

In such a situation, there is little to no chance that Abbas would jeopardize what little power and legitimacy he has left by making concessions to Israel of any kind, and concessions - large and small - are part and parcel of peace talks.

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