Peace in our Time?

Hardly. Here is a link to a JPost piece (free registration required) about what Abbas plans: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

This simple bit shows exactly why any peace process that emerges is a sham:

Yasser Arafat's three top successors vowed on Tuesday to follow in his footsteps by refusing to compromise on the right of return for all refugees and insisting on the establishment of a Palestinian state on the entire West Bank and Gaza Strip, with Jerusalem as its capital.

The 'right of return' is never going to happen, its a poison pill that ensures there can be no permanent solution to the conflict in the Holy Land. That much I know. What I don't know is if Abbas and the other moderates have long term plans to reform Palestinian society in order to get them to drop that requirement. Of course, this supposes that they actually "win" the upcoming election, and that Hamas doesn't decide to take matters into its own hands. However, I suspect Hamas is going to stay out of the 'political process', whil continuing on the same path as before. Its leaders have much to gain from maintaining the status quo.