A telling conversation last week in Ramallah, the rump capital of the non-state of Palestine: A senior official of Fatah, the mainstream, secular-leaning movement that makes up the core of the decaying Palestinian Authority, explained why he isn’t entirely unsympathetic to Israeli politicians who resist new peace initiatives.
A Palestinian negotiator willing to put himself in the shoes of his adversaries is only slightly more unusual than an Israeli political figure sensitive to the strategic conundrums of the Palestinians. Then the Fatah official added this self- interested thought: The upheavals shaking the greater Middle East should cause everyone, including the Palestinians, to pause before they attempt to negotiate their future. The future, he told me, is showing itself to be immune to rational intervention.
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