BECAUSE ISOLATING ELECTED GOVERNMENTS WORKS SO WELL...:

Israel eases hard line on Palestinians: Olmert tells Abbas he'll release $100 million in withheld tax funds (Richard Boudreaux, December 24, 2006, LA Times)

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made several concessions to the Palestinians on Saturday, including the release of $100 million in taxes and duties Israel had collected for their treasury but withheld for months, in a bid to revive a peace process stalled for years.

Olmert also promised, in a dinner meeting at his office with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, to begin easing travel restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank and allowing more trucks through Israeli cargo crossings to and from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The Israeli leader came to office in March saying that peace talks were pointless because there was no strong, reliable partner on the Palestinian side. By engaging Abbas, a relative moderate, Olmert has made a politically risky about-face in an attempt to isolate the more militant Hamas movement that controls the Palestinian government and parliament. [...]

After indirect talks produced a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip last month, Olmert offered to meet Abbas face to face if the Palestinians freed an Israeli soldier captured in June and formed a new government that recognized Israel and renounced violence.

But Abbas, who leads the Fatah party, has been unable to take either step. Hamas, sworn to seek Israel's destruction, has balked at Abbas' power-sharing plan and refused to release captured Cpl. Gilad Shalit unless Israel frees hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

In a tactical shift, Olmert decided to meet Abbas anyway and try to sideline Hamas.

If they're serious about strengthening the PLO they're going to have to release Barghouti.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 24, 2006 8:55 AM