Benjamin Netanyahu has come a long way in his efforts to bring Mahmoud Abbas to the negotiation table. In my opinion, he needs to display broader political initiative as a basis for a joint Israeli and American position, but even the three steps he has made are worth something. He accepted the principle of two states for two peoples, spoke of settlement blocs as a future border of Israel, and abandoned the claim to an extended sovereign military presence along the Jordan River. All this met with Palestinian rejection. At the same time, Salam Fayyad has tried to imitate the era of the "Yishuv" (Jewish settlement in Palestine before 1948), and to produce facts on the ground mirroring David Ben-Gurion's model. During this time, Netanyahu's government assisted him on a number of issues and refrained from creating tension. Netanyahu helps him even now, while Abbas has partnered with Hamas to establish a Palestinian unity government. But on Sunday, Hamas announced that Fayyad could not continue serving as prime minister within the unity government. Who exactly is this person that Hamas seeks to ostracize politically? He is a central figure in obtaining American and European support for the Palestinian claim to statehood; the person who created an economic and social infrastructure in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), allowing Abbas to claim to the world that his people are ready to take responsibility for a sovereign state; the person who initiated and aggressively began a boycott on products from any settlement that employs his Palestinian brothers - and yet still the world accepted this from him. Only from him. Because he is beloved by the West. If Fayyad is not worthy to be the Palestinian prime minister, then who is? Ismail Haniyeh? Khaled Meshal? No other man can, unless the Palestinians seek to revert to a previous school of thought: massive terror and suicide attacks. This would turn all the recent Palestinian achievements on their heads and, essentially, prevent any diplomatic solution based on the principle of two states for two peoples. If this is the outcome of the Fatah-Hamas unity agreement, and their first steps together are already a step backwards, they will get a slap on the wrist not only from Israel, but also from the Quartet, which will say that there really is no one to talk with in Palestine. Fayyad is the most threatening figure to those who oppose Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on both sides of the divide. He expresses the hope to strive toward a compromise. The floodwaters have not receded - we still have no partner for negotiations.