Standing next to Condoleezza Rice yesterday, Palestinian Man of Peace Mahmoud Abbas explicitly rejected Phase II of the road map (“an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders and attributes of sovereignty . . . as a way station to a permanent status settlement”). Abbas said that:
“We have also noted to Minister Rice our decision to end any temporary or transitional solutions including a state with temporary borders because we do not believe it to be a realistic choice that can be built upon.”
Abbas previously bragged to the Palestinian Legislative Council that he refused to carry out Phase I (dismantlement of terrorist capabilities and infrastructure): “although the roadmap, which we accepted, it says that the terrorist factions must be struck and uprooted . . . we overcame this”.
Nevertheless, Rice appeared on Israeli television last night and had this exchange with the interviewer:
QUESTION: And do you think, like Mrs. Livni that you met last night, there is a need to start immediate negotiations with Mahmoud Abbas, that this is the right time to do it although it skips some — actually the first phase of the roadmap?
SECRETARY RICE: Well, I don’t think we need to skip any phases of the roadmap. I think that the roadmap is intended to be a guide to get to a Palestinian state. But I know that when Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas met they talked about at some point discussing broader issues, so I would hope that there would be room to discuss anything that might be on the table. But the roadmap needs to be fulfilled and when I was with President Abbas today he reaffirmed the willingness and indeed the desire of the Palestinians to fulfill the obligations under the roadmap.
Nowhere in Abbas’ press conference did he express any desire to fulfill any obligations under the roadmap, or refer to any phases. He did express his desire for money, prisoners, land, and a state.
The phrase “discussing broader issues” is diplomatic code for Phase III of the roadmap. In almost every one of her press statements during her trip, Rice described her desire to “accelerate” the roadmap. In her press briefing en route to the Middle East, Rice explained her view as follows:
The roadmap is a useful document because it does have reciprocal responsibilities, but I do think that if you want to get momentum of the kind that came out of the meeting between Olmert and Abbas that you don’t want to be in a position of doing this at such a slow pace that you lose the momentum of the broader political relationship that is developing there. So when I say accelerate, we want to look at it and see how fast you can move.
Translation: the roadmap is nice, but if you want “momentum,” you pretty much have to skip the first two phases, because the Palestinians have said they don’t need any stinkin’ Phase I or Phase II. Just send them the $86 million so they can proceed with this.