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Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20050919-085409-3167r.htm
Palestinians and Peace?
(Washington Times) Zalman Shoval - Judging by the general chaos in the Gaza Strip after the Israeli hand-over, one cannot be blamed for harboring serious doubts about whether the Palestinians will in fact be able to establish and run their own viable state. Nor is it certain that such a future Palestinian state will indeed be peaceful and democratic, rather than turning into one more extremist, Islamist state promoting terrorism all around it. On the contrary, additional arms have been smuggled into Gaza through the wide open border with Egypt, and Abbas himself has declared his uncompromising aims to be identical with those of Arafat - i.e., a complete Israeli withdrawal from its historic lands in Judea and Samaria, making Jerusalem the Palestinian capital, and insisting on the so-called "right of return" of Palestinian refugees - the Palestinian formula for destroying the Jewish state from within. Some people suspect that legitimizing Hamas was a deliberate act on behalf of Abbas to preserve the terrorist option for the future.