Is it time to start the peace process with Israel ?

Abbas and Olmert ; agreement to start negotiations

After the few meetings and conferences that were held between Israelis and Palestinians , Abbas and Olmert agreed yesterday to start the negotiations , including negotiations concerning the 'big' issues ( Jerusalem, refugees, etc ).

Will Abbas be able to achieve peace ? Will Olmert ? Will the two governments be able to achieve peace soon ?

Maybe the question is a CAN not a WILL question !
Can Abbas achieve peace ? The answer is NO.
After few months of loosing Gaza to Hamas, and earlier than that loosing the descent representation in the Legislative Council ( for Hamas too ) , Abbas's government , and party ( Fatah ) are in the worst conditions since ever !

More meetings and conferences and visits will soon be revealed, but surely NOTHING will result. The Palestinian leadership is not taking the lead and probably needs a lot of time to handle all the corruption and imbalances in the Palestinian community and organizations. The Palestinian leadership is now in its weakest situations , and the negotiating teams that Abbas is using are not popular, even among Fatah members themselves. In addition , the elections that are taking place now is all Fatah party levels are not done yet, and this means that only after the new elected Fatah leadership is ready, a consensus ( or acceptance ) can be reached.

Starting the talks with Israel will surely be of benefit. USA is the first winner ( a public relations campaign for the government in power ) , then comes Israel, which will be viewed by the international community as a negotiator, not an occupier. The Palestinian people will suffer little bit "LESS" than usual ( as Israel will not do obvious harm ). The only loser is Abbas and his party, no doubt.

I do hope that the peacefull time that we may enjoy during all these useless 'peace talks' will give some results and insight to the Palestinian and Israeli people.
The only threat to this peaceful time is Hamas , if it decides to stop the peace talks through firing more rockets on Sdeirot ( near Gaza ). If Hamas does so , that would be the green light for Israel to start war in Gaza ( and at the same time Peace talks with Abbas in the West-Bank ).