From the Shadows to Center Stage

The camera bulbs had barely stopped flashing, but Mahmoud Abbas was already on the spot. After exchanging a photo-op handshake with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh last week, Abbas went into his first meeting with Sharon since Abbas' election as President of the Palestinian Authority. Sitting across a long oblong table in an airy conference room, Sharon reiterated to Abbas his demand that the Palestinians take immediate steps to disarm the militants of Hamas before Israel agrees to resume peace talks. "Wait, wait, give me a break," Abbas said, according to Israeli officials who attended the meeting. "I've only been in office a couple of weeks." Sharon showed no sympathy. "You've got to move faster," he said.

One month into his tenure, Abbas is beginning to realize that if he hopes to make progress toward peace, he can't afford to wait. With last week's declaration of a truce between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, relations between the two sides have reached their warmest level in years--owing in large part to Abbas' willingness to confront the violence that wreaked havoc on Palestinian society under Yasser Arafat. But Abbas is in an excruciating bind. While he needs to move fast to accommodate Israeli demands, he also risks reprisals from his own people that could cost him his job and very possibly his life. No sooner had Abbas agreed to a cease-fire last Tuesday than Palestinian militants staged two brazen attacks. First they fired mortars and rockets on Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip. Then 300 gunmen from Hamas and the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades staged an assault on the Saraya, the main prison and Palestinian Authority military base in Gaza City. In response, Abbas took his boldest step yet to assert his authority, firing at least 25 top security officials and going to Gaza to rebuke Hamas leaders in person. "If you run from a leaking roof," he told aides, "you'll end up with a flood."

The quick show of resolve was surprising to those accustomed to Abbas' scrupulous style. "He's Mr. Calculator every time he makes a move," says a senior Palestinian official. And yet, since taking over from Arafat, Abbas has shown a more daring side. He has impressed aides and foreign diplomats with his guts and discipline. A State Department official briefed on Abbas' meeting with Condoleezza Rice last week says the new Secretary of State "left there very convinced that [Abbas] was serious. He has a very clear understanding of what he's up against. He has a narrow window to prove himself." Abbas' fortunes--and prospects for peace--will ultimately hinge on whether he can persuade Sharon to make compromises of his own, like releasing long-serving prisoners who murdered Israelis. It's telling that while Israeli officials praised Abbas for sticking to the agenda at Sharm el-Sheikh--in contrast to Arafat's diversionary tactics--Abbas told a senior Fatah official that he found Sharon too rigid. "We are different personalities," he said. "I can't be a block of ice."