'Moderate' Fatah leader Abbas is just another media myth

By Ricki Hollander

Attempts to move the Israeli-Palestinian peace process forward have reached an impasse even before negotiations have begun. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas imposed a precondition to Palestinian participation -- Israel must completely cease building in the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem -- and then rejected as insufficient the efforts of his Israeli counterpart, who is battling fierce domestic opposition to implement a 10-month settlement freeze in the West Bank.

But what has Abbas done to move the peace process forward? He has conceded absolutely nothing -- neither recognition of Israel as a Jewish state nor the "good faith" gestures …