Sharon Cuts Ties w/ Abbas

This is infuriating. It's been five days since Abbas was elected PA Chairman, and already Sharon has frozen relations with him.

And to think I was in the middle of writing a piece about how Sunday's election in Palestine, followed by Monday's vote in the Knesset to approve a withdrawal coalition, had dramatically shifted the political dynamic in the Middle East. I thought the two elections amounted to a new moment, one that presented an opportunity for hope -- or at least an occasion to reconsider prospects for reconciliation, statehood, a lasting peace. But following yesterday's attack in Gaza -- carried out as a direct challenge to Abbas and a sort of "hell, no, we won't go" cry in response to plans for a cease fire -- Sharon dispensed with any illusions that the rules had changed. If Sharon won't negotiate with a moderate like Abbas until all terrorism stops, it doesn't matter who leads on the Palestinian side. How can he honestly expect Abbas to clamp down on militants before he's even had a chance to be sworn in?