Rick Larsen: “the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas and the appointment of Ahmed Queria as his replacement as the Prime Minister of the…”

“the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas and the appointment of Ahmed Queria as his replacement as the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority has fully thrown off course the Road Map to Peace. Two months ago I traveled to Israel as a member of the largest Congressional delegation to ever visit Israel. While there, I had an opportunity to meet with both then Prime Minister Abbas and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. At the time, both Israel and the Palestinian Authority were struggling to implement the Road Map requirements. Abbas's humble welcome to the delegation belied a history of being one of Yasser Arafat's right hand men in the Palestinian Liberation Organization's past terror campaigns. This history makes it all the more interesting that Silvan Shalom, Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs, told us that it was official Israeli policy to take actions to enhance the credibility of Abbas within the Palestinian Authority. Abbas's message to us was a recounting of key issues that impact the Road Map peace process. He argued that the security fence, which he referred to as a wall, should be dismantled. However, when pressed on this issue, he conceded that the fence might be less of an issue if Israel built it on non-West Bank lands. He argued that Israel's announcement that they would release 545 political prisoners, in addition to those 248 released before the Akaba summit, was inadequate. His sentiment echoed Arafat's claim that the release was a fraud.”