MERIP
Media Resource List, May 24, 2005
AVAILABLE
FOR INTERVIEWS
on the following topic:
- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visits President Bush
KHALED
HROUB
Khaled Hroub is director of the Cambridge Arab Media Project
and author of Hamas: Political Thought and Practice
(Washington: Institute for Palestine Studies, 2000). He said
today: "No high hopes on the big issues. The most that
Abbas can hope for from the Bush administration is a more
serious commitment to backing on-time Palestinian legislative
elections in July. Sharon's irritation with the elections
-- and the possibility they they might bring Hamas into the
heart of the official Palestinian polity -- might rise to
the point that he seeks to block them altogether."
DEBORAH
J. GERNER
Deborah J. Gerner is professor of political science at the
University of Kansas and co-director of the Center for International
Political Analysis. Gerner is author of One Land, Two
Peoples: The Conflict over Palestine (1994) and on the
editorial committee of Middle East Report. She said
today:"This is a critical moment for Israeli-Palestinian
relations. The atmosphere is incredibly tense in the Occupied
Territories -- economic conditions continue to worsen, Israel's
separation barrier grows daily, settlements are expanding
and land confiscation appears to be accelerating. If Mahmoud
Abbas returns home from his meeting with Bush with nothing
except nice words and promises of future financial support
and possible changes in US policy, Abbas's mission will have
failed -- miserably. Palestinians will be left wondering if
they have traded one failed president for another, which could
easily lead to a short-lived government or one without the
clout to bring about necessary internal change. In a very
real sense, Abbas is staking the political future of his government
on this trip."
MOUIN
RABBANI
Mouin Rabbani is senior Middle East analyst with the International
Crisis Group, specializing in Palestine and the Arab-Israeli
conflict, and a contributing editor of Middle East Report.
"Abbas was elected to deliver on his agenda of domestic
reform and ending the occupation. So far he has precious little
to show for his efforts, and is therefore heading for trouble.
If his visit to Washington is a photo op and he leaves with
words rather than deeds, he will be weakened further vis-a-vis
both Hamas and rival forces within the Fatah movement."
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