If more evidence were needed that Mahmoud Abbas is bereft of any peacemaking credentials, look no further than the Oct. 20 Palestinian municipal elections, which resulted in a humiliating no-confidence vote for the leader of the Palestinian Authority. Because of his duplicitous record on a two-state solution -- ruling it out when addressing his own people while peddling it to gullible Western leaders and mainstream media -- Abbas already had lost any credibility in the eyes of most Israelis. But the municipal elections in the West Bank have now stripped him of any remaining peacemaking credentials in the eyes of his own people. Abbas called the twice postponed elections in a bid to shore up his Fatah party leadership. He failed miserably. In Hamas-ruled Gaza, authorities banned the elections, and boycotted them in the Fatah-administered West Bank. To make matters worse for Abbas, anti-Abbas candidates beat Fatah in Ramallah, the Palestinian "capital," as well as in Nablus and Jenin,...(Read Full Post)