Mahmoud Abbas: Pressing the Flesh for Peace

Talk Among Yourselves
Abbas greets Sharon's successor, Ehud Olmert, along with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in February 2007. At the time, the Bush Administration, focused on Afghanistan and then Iraq in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, had given little attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, leaving Abbas without much reward for his patience. But Washington's growing concern with Iran's nuclear program and regional influence prompted it to press for progress on the Israeli-Palestinian front, in hopes of encouraging moderate Arab regimes to stand with Israel and the U.S. against Iran.

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