Friday, November 09, 2007

Israeli intelligence: Abbas is too weak

A recently exposed joint document by the General Security Service (Shin Bet), the Mossad and military intelligence states that "even if understandings are reached in Annapolis, the chances of implementing them in the field are almost zero." Army Radio reported Thursday morning that Israel's intelligence community considers Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a powerless leader, who even has difficulty controlling car thieves and drug dealers in his own territory.

"There is a total disconnection between the leadership and the Palestinian people," read the document, and "the PA has no security apparatus capable of implementing agreements. The existing [security] forces are totally corrupt."

On the other hand, according to the document the Palestinians are thought to be willing to accept a partial agreement regarding the refugee issue; specifically if Israel will allow entrance to 100,000 refugees over a period of 10 years. In the eyes of the intelligence community, such an agreement would be hard for the Palestinians to back down from once it is accepted, and would also win the support of other Arab countries.

Despite the dire forecast regarding the Palestinians, the intelligence community says that Israel should consider the upcoming Annapolis peace summit as an historic opportunity for Israel to garner international support, including from the Arab representatives.

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