THE ROAD GOES EVER ONWARD:

Abbas, Olmert ready to resume talks (Albawaba, 10-09-2006)

During the visit of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas agreed to resume negotiations.

Following talks with Blair in Ramallah on Sunday, Abbas said he wished to express the Palestinian "readiness to resume serious negotiations fully." He said that he was "ready to meet Prime Minister Olmert without prior conditions, and we are ready to begin immediately the preparations for this meeting."

Abbas' statement followed a similar comment by Olmert after his meeting with the British leader on Saturday.

MORE:
"Reasonable" Suicide (Frimet Roth, 9/12/06, FrontPageMagazine.com)

Prepare for another Israeli retreat. The prison gates are about to be flung open again and Hamas handed a victory greater than any territorial concession.

Sources say that the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit is imminent. The ransom demanded by Hamas reportedly now stands at 800 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

The absurdly skewed numbers make plain that this will be no exchange. While the first Palestinian to walk through those prison gates will be swapped, the seven hundred and ninety nine who follow him will be handed over gratis.

A mass release of this kind, if it takes place, will be catastrophic for Israelis. In its wake, terrorists would be insane not to carry out more such abductions in order to reap such bonanzas.