Guess who's in Damascus tonight? Abbas,our `moderate' ally

He-eeey...I'm just checkin' out my options, sweetheart! I mean, what have you done for me lately?

After promising US Secretary of State Condi Rice that he would cancel his scheduled trip, Mahmoud Abbas decided to go to Damascus anyway to see Syrian president Basher Assad and Hamas kingpin Khalid Meshaal. Also in attendance are some high-ranking Iranian envoys.

When Rice was in Ramallah last Monday, she spanked Abbas and told him that the US was vehemently opposed to his trip to Damascus. After agreeing to cancel his trip, Abbas double crossed Rice and went anyway. Obviously, he's confident that US threats to cut off that promised $86M in aid are empty,and having just gotten $100M from the Olmert government, he's not hurting for cash and is interested in what kind of baksheesh offer he can get out of the Syrians and Iranians.

There is, of course, a lot of noise about a draft of a “Document of Principles' for a Hamas/ Fatah unity government. So far, neither side has accepted the document’s wording or the parceling out of jobs in the government that's supposed to include Fatah and Hamas representatives.

Abbas and Mashaal have a deep-rooted personal hatred between them. Any `agreement' would be temporary in nature, just to get time to build up for the War Against The Jews.

But it says a lot about the nature of Abbas and the Palestinians that they're sniffing around our enemies for offers.