Despite being a first in many respects, the summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm Al-Sheikh was not a summit in which the parties made "unexpected" announcements. Abbas said that he did not approve turning the Aqsa Intifada into an armed struggle even when Yasser Arafat was alive, but advocated a democratic struggle and the adoption of methods of civil disobedience. Ariel Sharon, on the other side, was trying to impose a unilateral pullout and an evacuation of Gaza settlements on his own party with a determination that would overshadow his famous epithet "the butcher".
The summit was not a surprise in this sense. While Abbas promised to put an end to the incidents of violence without any preconditions, Sharon promised to stop military interventions towards Palestinians as well as withdrawing from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, in accordance with the Road Map peace plan. In such summits, where only mutual promises are given, it is necessary that the parties deliver on their promises. As the last local elections in Gaza showed, Abbas is face to face with a snowballing Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS) threat. The radical right wing within Sharon's own party, meanwhile, has initiated attempts to seize the central administrative board of the party yet. Besides, it is already widely known by everyone that the Israeli army has a "hammer reflex" automatically triggered by even the smallest armed attack. Under these conditions, it seems very difficult for even the promise of a ceasefire to be kept, which is only one step for the restart of the peace process.
The direction of the Sharm al-Sheikh Summit reflected to the media might only consist of expressions of "good will" among the leaders. Mutual meetings between top figures of the Israeli and Palestinian security forces have already continued for a period in the background. Israel does not only demand promises from Palestine but also it demands action. The action they require is such that even Yasser Arafat could not have implemented at his most powerful period: that the only armed forces in the Palestinian territories will be the Palestinian police. A strong stop and search campaign will be started against organizations such as HAMAS (Islamic Movement of Resistance) and Islamic Jihad and these organizations will be forced to disarm. The armed wings of Tanzim and Al-Fatah will be rehabilitated and some figures approved by Israel will be taken under control by the inclusion of the Palestinian police cadres. Although it seems easy, these arrangements might shorten the presidential survival of Abbas, which is already perceived to be very short.
The Israelis, who had to risk a civil war to round-up their many militias after their declaration of independence know very well that the number one priority for any armed organization is "to continue their existence". The only way that the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit could start a realistic peace process is to give Palestinian organizations such as Hamas the right and chance to surviving by abandoning terrorism and delivering their current grass roots support a legitimate political platforms. Neither Abbas nor Sharon made such remarks at the summit. The importance of a peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh will be no more important than a suicide attack decision taken in a Hamas cell in the West Bank as long as Israel bases the vitality of the peace process to the condition of absolute end to violence. The future of Palestinian-Israeli relations is not determined by the Sharon-Abbas negotiations, but by an unknown number of anonymous meetings held in those cells.
