Anyone else been following this story?

Last week, the PA President, Mr. Abbas, met with dignitaries from all over the Arab world in Cairo, in hopes of building support for the PA's position in regards to the Israeli peace talks. Abbas has been trying to hedge his bets against Israel by adding condition after condition to his side of the peace talk planning (things like refugees, time-tables, security, etc) and many... including me... think this is a means by which he can defer blame should the talks break down after he has committed to them. He wants to seem blameless and clean-of-conscience should things go badly, because he doesn't want another head-to-head with Hammas over which point of view should dominate the PA... Fatah's or Hammas'.

The big surprise was that these Arab leaders (from all over the region) ALL left the choices firmly in Abbas' hands, and NONE would commit their nations to one side or the other. This left Abbas in a tough spot... its now HIS call on what the PA wants from the meetings, and there is no outside pressure on him from the rest of the Arab world.

With one exception... Iran.

Now, my question: Is the rest of the Arab world distancing itself from the PA, or from Iran?

I don't discount the possibility that BOTH could be things that countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon want to see achieved... but which is the greater danger to these states; a nuclear Iran or a militant PA?

A running war between the PA and Israel seems the lesser of two evils, if one puts himself in the shoes of the Saudis, or Kuwaitis, or Jordanians, right? However, an Israel embroiled in another on-going fight with the PA is an Israel that might hesitate to remove the threat of a nuclear Iran... and NO Middle Eastern state (outside of Iran itself) wants a nuclear Iran. Both Jordan and the UAE have said as much to the US in the last month alone. I think this is rapidly becoming the sort of game where the Arabs are saying to themselves "The enemy of my enemy is my friend..." and Iran has no greater enemy in the region than Israel, and there is NO nation in the region that can so clearly remove the threat of a nuclear Iran than Israel, period.

This explains much, I think. Why else would the Saudis give tacit approval for Israeli over-flights of their airspace in the event of an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities? Why else would Jordan be spending so much time and money cooperating with Israel in anti-terror operations in the trans-Jordan? Why else are the Egyptians making such an effort to eliminate the rocket attacks on southern Israel from the Sinai desert? Why else would the Lebanese be so conciliatory after the altercation between the IDF and their own border troops just a few weeks ago, which cost them the lives of their own troops?

Even Syria, who felt the wrath of Israel as recently as '07 when the IDF blew the Syrian nuclear facility (openly processing weapons-grade material) into fused glass and black sand, has remained utterly silent on the question of regaining Golan from the Israelis. They are still trying to gain some degree of control in Lebanon, and are closely aligned with Hezbullah, but on the PA question... they are utterly silent. Why? I think it is because a nuclear Iran is far scarier than a few more years of leaving the problems, trials and tribulations of life in Golan to the Israelis. Syria's hands could get seriously FULL if the investigations into the murder of Lebanon's former PM, Hariri, point the fingers of guilt at Damascus, because many in the international community have sided with Lebanese independence and self-rule, and the only ally that Syria seems to have in this area are the Saudis... and they are luke-warm friends at best.

For the time being, Israel seems to be in a position to bargain from a real position of strength, both internationally and domestically... and I don't mean in its ability to wage war (which I have never disputed). As the strongest kids on the block, with the biggest stick to swing... I'd say the other bullies are moving out of the way so as not to get hit with the fallout when the swinging starts.