Abbas Takes Gestures from Meeting; Olmert Will Have to Wait

[Analysis] The most significant news coming from Saturday night’s meeting between Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas is arguably that the meeting took place at all. In terms of tangibles, ‘Abbas left with a pledge of $100 million in frozen tax money, the removal of some checkpoints, and a promise to move 400 commercial trucks through a Gaza-Israel crossing point each day. For his part, Olmert received the opportunity to please the White House and hold the long-awaited summit before anyone in his cabinet had a chance to upstage him. On the down side, six months of military operations failed to bring captured soldier Gilad Shalit home and now the switch to diplomacy hasn’t provided the quick solution Olmert so badly needs as his domestic standing continues to plummet. Not lost on the Israeli public are two other significant concessions made by Olmert prior to Saturday’s meeting: allowing the PLO’s Badr Brigade fighting force to move from Jordan to the Palestinian Authority and allowing Egypt to arm ‘Abbas’ security forces. Even the ambiance of Saturday’s meeting conveyed concessions to the Palestinians. For the first time, the Israeli prime minister ordered the Palestinian flag to fly next to the Israeli flag at the official Prime Minister’s Residence. Analysts at The Media Line suggest that the growing list of Olmert’s unanswered gestures aimed at bolstering ‘Abbas without visible quid pro quos will further weaken the already fragile Olmert government.