Epstein Secrets

wice following Israel's bloody May 31, 2010, interception of the Gaza freedom flotilla and the subsequent easing of Israel's and Egypt's boycott on the Gaza Strip, which cut into already fraying hopes that Hamas could otherwise be pressured into submission. In EFTA_R1_02032783 EFTA02691166 5 both instance

June. But Fatah leader and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas's insistence that it should be headed by his current prime minister, Salam Fayyad, infuriated Hamas. The Islamists loathe Fayyad, who has overseen a four-year crackdown on their membership in the West Bank in cooperation with Isr

emonstration in Jerusalem on May 15 and worry about large-scale violence. Unremarked upon by the media, another foreign flotilla is heading toward the Gaza Strip, intent on breaching Israel's legal blockade and delivering supplies. Surely, the flotilla masterminds in Turkey and elsewhere remember well the la

er will be brought to a vote at the UN General Assembly. Many observers in the West seem to regard this campaign, masterminded by Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad, respectively the Palestinian Authority's president and prime minister, as an innovative breakthrough, a reversal of the strategy of their unwhole

m United States to Israel (October 1998) 356 Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum (4 September 1999) 358 Protocol Concerning Safe Passage between West Bank and Gaza Strip (5 October 1999) 363 Sharon Address at Fourth Herzliya Conference (18 December 2003) 371 Exchange of Letters between PM Sharon and President Bush (

b League in Cairo, with Ahmed Shugeiri as its leader. 16 May 1967 President Nasser asks the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) to leave Sinai and the Gaza Strip, where it had been engaged in peacekeeping functions since the 1956 Sinai conflict. 22 May 1967 Egypt announces a blockade against Israeli shipping

state of emergency. 15 June 2007 Hamas takes control over the Gaza Strip in a coup, after several days of violent battles with Fatah. 15 June 2007 Salam Fayyad appointed Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority. 30 October 2007 UN Provisional Geographic Definition of the Shebaa Farms Area. 27 November 200

extending the authority of a Palestinian state to the Gaza Strip will depend on effective control there by a legit

ity reform, economic development and state-building efforts - especially in the West Bank, under the leadership of President Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, which have helped lay the foundations for Palestinian statehood - and endorse the position articulated by the World Bank and the United Nations that