Israel offers amnesty to boost Fatah

"The Al Aqsa Brigades activists have signed a pledge to cease attacks against Israel," said Zakaria Zubeidi, a popular Al Aqsa leader from the West Bank city of Jenin who was on Israel's most-wanted list as a terrorist. Mr. Zubeidi was granted amnesty as part of the deal, according to the Palestinian Maan news agency. "Al Aqsa Brigades won't be an obstacle to any political project aimed at solving the Palestinian question," he said.

To be sure, the steps are modest, and the likely usefulness in bolstering Abbas and Fatah against Hamas are far from certain.

"The amnesty is part of one package of Israeli measures, along with the prisoner release. But if you look at that one, it's very small, it's not the big fish," says Yossi Alpher, who helps edit the online journal Bitterlemons.org, which covers the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "Yes, it's small potatoes, but the question is can Olmert keep up a string of such measures to build up Abbas, and can Abbas use them to improve security in a way that's visible to Israelis. I'm hopeful, but pessimistic."

In an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz newspaper published on Monday, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad insisted that the gestures were not sufficient to revive the momentum for peace, and that only negotiations could restore the Palestinian public's faith in diplomacy.

A spokesman for Israel's prime minister said the sides discussed how to reach a final peace settlement but didn't broach any of the thorny issues expected to be at the center of the negotiations.

Fatah figures in the West Bank say they're deeply skeptical that the measures announced in the past few days will have much impact on their movement's standing.

"Israel has no interest in a strong Fatah, these are just words," says Qadura Fares, a Ramallah-based Fatah leader. "I haven't seen them removing checkpoints, or settlements, or stopping construction of the wall. This claim that the Americans or Israelis want to help Fatah in the West Bank – it's a joke."

Other Palestinian analysts say that if the Palestinian Authority could absorb the militants into the security services, it could be seen as a viable alternative to the armed uprising. But for now, Abbas is seen as a weak leader by the vast majority of Palestinians, lacking both the popularity of the deceased Yasser Arafat and the ability to extract concessions from large segments within his own movement, let alone other Palestinian factions like Hamas.

Interviews with about a dozen Fatah leaders in the West Bank over the past week yielded a consistent view of an Abbas who is increasingly seen as connected to US and Israeli interests, and deep concern that this perceived closeness threatens the movement's popularity in the West Bank, as well is Gaza.

Pollster Rabah says, "The message that he has to make is that, 'I'm not a collaborator. I am trying to realize Palestinian rights through negotiations.' "

Hamas, not surprisingly, is also lashing out at the dealings between Olmert and Abbas.

"We want safety and peace for all Palestinians, not just the Al Aqsa Martyrs. This agreement is part of a security agenda to put an end to the Palestinian resistance," says Yayha Mussa, a Hamas leader in Gaza and an elected member of the currently suspended Palestinian parliament. "The ultimate plan is to turn the Palestinian security forces into an apparatus for protecting Israeli settlements and settlers, and this is the agenda of Abbas and Fayyad."

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