Chief Palestinian negotiator and spokesman Saeb Erekat has resigned:
Erekat, an ally of President Yasser Arafat, tendered his resignation on Thursday after being excluded from [Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud] Abbas’s negotiating team, which is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Saturday, a Palestinian official said on Friday.
It’s hard to tell what the political implications here will be. On the one hand, it can be seen as another key Palestinian figure refusing to support Abbas, thus weakening his new and shaky power in the Palestinian Authority. On the other hand, Eraket was a terror supporter and apologist, and the only thing quicker than his propensity for invention of facts was his automatic finger-pointing at Israel no matter what was going on. Not exactly the qualities needed in a negotiator.
His resignation has not yet been accepted so it’s possible this whole thing is just a scheme to get attention, and he’ll be right back in his position within days. It’s always hard to figure out what will happen in an iron-fist dictatorship that is trying to pass itself off to the world as having made nonexistent democratic reforms.
The bottom line is, this is unlikely to affect the talks between Sharon and Abbas due to take place tomorrow.