The Boston Globe Editorial, 19.06.07

When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visits President Bush today, they will confront the Hamas takeover of Gaza, the dissolution of the Palestinians' unity government by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and Abbas's appointment of a new government headed by the respected former World Bank official Salam Fayyad. In coordinating policies, Olmert and Bush must distinguish between what has truly changed and what remains the same. They have a responsibility to seize the opportunities that may now open up for the negotiated two-state solution that both leaders have said they want to achieve.
It is heartening that both Olmert and Abbas have recently made it clear they want to make the most of the new opportunities that may flow from the Hamas takeover in Gaza.
Olmert has indicated he will cooperate with the international community to make sure the 1.4 million people in Gaza will receive supplies of electricity, water, and medicine. He has said Israel will not intervene militarily in Gaza. Olmert has also said he will work with the new Palestinian government appointed by Abbas and will consider turning over tax revenues of more than $500 million that Israel has collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority but refused to deliver to a Hamas government.
These measures are not only worthwhile on humanitarian grounds, they also correspond to Israel's true interests. It is in Israel's long-term interest to help prevent a collapse of the Palestinian Authority and an extended power struggle in the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel also has a great stake in validating the peaceful diplomatic policy Abbas has propounded. Above all, this means taking steps that enable Israelis and Palestinians to begin discussing what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls a "political horizon" -- an end-of-conflict agreement that gives Palestinians the independent, viable state they seek and Israelis the security they have long sought.
Abbas is signaling that he will ask Olmert to empower the new, moderate government of Prime Minister Fayyad by implementing benchmarks proposed by the American security coordinator for the region, General Keith Drayton. Prime among these is the removal of most of the Israeli checkpoints on the West Bank that make daily life for Palestinians insufferable. Another key action Israel could take to bolster Abbas would be to release a number of the 9,000 Palestinian prisoners it holds, particularly Marwan Barghouti, who is generally regarded as the most popular Fatah leader.
If Olmert is wise, he will act to strengthen Abbas, whom he recognizes as a genuine partner for peace. And Bush should encourage a self-reinforcing dynamic that promotes peace talks as a way to empower Abbas, and the empowering of Abbas as an indispensable stage on the path to peace talks.