Daily Alert Archives

The Hope that Turned False

(Ha'aretz) Ze'ev Schiff - The election of Mahmoud Abbas after the death of Arafat was a breath of fresh air to anyone who expected new political moves between the Palestinians and Israel and negotiations without bloodshed. Abbas is far from being a supporter of moderate Zionist ambitions, but he reached the conclusion that the Palestinian struggle for achieving independence cannot be conducted through terror. But the more time passes and the suicide bombings as well as rocket fire of Kassams from Gaza following the disengagement continue, there's no sign that Abbas is ready or able to take real steps against terror organizations like Islamic Jihad. He hasn't even begun collecting weapons as he promised in the road map. So there's no other conclusion than that in effect there is no positive meaning to Abbas's leadership. He's not contributing to freeing his people from the swamp in which they have sunk. His leadership does not contribute to peace, and weakens his supporters in Israel. Abbas is wasting, or has wasted until now, the historic opportunity that befell him. It is very difficult to understand his apathy toward Islamic Jihad's terror activity. In this way, he contributes to the anarchy in Palestinian society, to gangland rule. Islamic Jihad is a small organization that is not interested in the elections, and wants to continue with its terror activity and war against Israel into the future. Nonetheless, the PA chairman is not ready to risk taking action against it. With his weak leadership, Abbas is responsible, even if indirectly, for the deterioration and suffering that always follows a terror attack. Israel must wait for another individual to head the Palestinians, a braver leader that might arise after the elections.
2005-12-09 00:00:00
Full Article