Speaking to a closed meeting of Jewish American leaders in New York late Tuesday, Abbas made clear that he wants to continue the dialogue with Israel and signaled that he was backing away from his ultimatum.

“I cannot say I will leave the negotiations, but it’s very difficult for me to resume talks if Prime Minister Netanyahu declares that he will continue his activity in the West Bank and Jerusalem,” Abbas said, according to a transcript of the event obtained by The Associated Press.

Abbas urged Israel to extend the building restrictions for several months while the sides negotiate the final borders between Israel and a future Palestine. “At that time, Israelis will be free to build in their territory and the Palestinians the same,” he said.

This could just be a stall tactic on Abbas’s part, sure. But the reality is that Israel cannot indefinitely put life on hold for nearly half a million of its citizens, while a peace that everyone knows will not happen is endlessly discussed just to boost Obama’s ego.

A lot of people think that these rounds of peace talks are futile. I don’t. Increasingly, I think they’re dangerous, because at the end of each round of failed talks, Israel has conceded that much more and has moved the starting marker for the next round. It’s a war of attrition, all right, only going the other way. And where does it stop?

“There is widespread support for Fatah,” Dr. Jamil Rabah, director of Near East Consulting in the PA, told The Media Line. “They support the Fatah political process and don’t think Hamas is on the right path politically.” 

[ . . . ]

“It doesn’t surprise me that the sentiments of the people are in this direction,” Abdallah Abdallah, chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council’s Political Committee, told The Media Line. “Over a year has passed since the Gaza war and still people are living in the streets. People want those responsible for this to go and I think the sentiments of the people after three or more years of this is that it’s about time that those who are not capable of running the affairs of the people – go.”

Hamas swept to power in Gaza first by exploiting people’s frustration with the corruption of the Fatah administration, and then through a violent show of force. Popular support for suicide bombings and attacks on Israeli civilians was high, and Hamas was able to claim to the world (though maybe not with an altogether straight face) that it was a “legitimate” political party. Now, after promising to “crush” Israel and succeeding in doing little more than crushing Gaza, it seems that the Hamas option has lost its shiny lustre to a lot of disillusioned Palestinians.

But it would be a mistake to take this polling data at face value. People vote out of ideology, sure, but also out of self-interest. And in the Palestinian territories, where hatred is a powerful weapon that can be stirred up almost at will to redirect people’s frustration, these things can shift quickly. There will be those who will back the strongest horse, those who go looking for the options that are even more extremist than Hamas, and those who will get disgusted with voting altogether in a place where democracy doesn’t exactly have deep roots.

We’ve seen this before. Support for a political approach rises among Palestinians when there appears to be no threat of any progress actually being made. The minute this threat arises – whether at Camp David in 2000, or after Oslo or Wye – the people balk and something triggers another wave of violence. And if it’s not Hamas out in front, then support will go towards whoever is shouting the loudest, shooting the most, and inspiring the most fear.

And what the poll won’t tell you is that the bigger picture in the Middle East is also a factor – maybe the factor. As Iran battles Saudi Arabia for regional dominance, Hamas is engaged in something of a proxy war against Iran-sponsored Hezbollah, jockeying for power using the gruesome metric of dead Israeli civilians as credentials.

But, for the moment at least, Hamas’s popular support is way down. And if the Palestinians actually had real elections, this might actually have implications.

Saudi Arabia and other Arab states are expected to speed money to the Palestinian Authority within days to help it pay its employees after Israel halted tax payments, Palestinian officials said.

[ . . . ]

Hamas, which has carried out nearly 60 suicide bombings since a Palestinian uprising began in 2000, trounced Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s long-dominant Fatah movement in the January 25 parliamentary election.

In a joint statement issued in Islamabad, Islamic allies Pakistan and Saudi Arabia urged the world to accept Hamas’s victory and “avoid premature judgments and hasty conclusions.”

Hamas has urged foreign donors to maintain aid but says it could still find other sources of funding in the Arab world. It has sent a delegation on a tour of Arab countries to urge them to keep the money flowing.

Unemployment in the Palestinian territories runs high, at 22 percent, and half the Palestinian population lives in poverty. In Gaza, many Palestinians live on an average of $2 a day.

Let’s see… we’ve got the requisite reference to Palestinian poverty, to Israel’s withholding of financial transfers, and to the election results and their aftermath. The implication, of course, is that it’s Israel’s fault that the Palestinians are living in poverty.

What’s missing? That’s right: no reference whatsoever to the fact that the billions of dollars of aid that have poured into the Palestinian coffers to-date used to finance terrorism, urge suicide attacks, build explosives and rockets, purchase weapons, and train militias. Oh yeah, and to line the pockets of the Palestinian Authority, and to finance Suha Arafat’s shopping habits. And no mention of the fact that Israel, if it were to release the money, would be contributing financially to attacks on its own citizens.

And the high Palestinian unemployment? No mention of the fact that, prior to 2000, unemployment was much lower because so many Palestinians were working in Israel and crossing the border daily without any problems. Nothing about how the chosen strategy of violence forced Israel to close these borders and therefore cost so many Palestinians their livelihood. No reference to how all the jobs were in Israel because the Palestinians haven’t built any industry, infrastructure or opportunity – in short, necessary ingredients for a sustainable state. Or how, despite claiming to want statehood, it doesn’t seem to have occurred to the Palestinians that a viable state can’t live forever on handouts. It’s so much easier to talk about destroying Israel than to talk about actually building a state, isn’t it?

And it’s more convenient to imply that Israel is to blame for Palestinian poverty than it is to tell the truth, I guess.

“I am fine, I am fine … They gave me cigarettes and tea,” Bernardini told reporters, looking shaken but unhurt.

“I will never change my idea about the occupation,” he said, referring to Israel’s occupation of land that Palestinians seek for a state. “I am with the Palestinian people.”

An armed offshoot of Abbas’s own ruling Fatah movement said it carried out the kidnapping.

Fatah. Not Hamas. Not Islamic Jihad. But Fatah’s “armed wing”. Did any of the people relentlessly promoting Mahmoud Abbas as a “moderate” ever stop to think about why Fatah has an armed wing in the first place?

Oh, and there’s more:

Hours earlier, gunmen stormed a United Nations club in Gaza City and blew up the bar — the only place where alcohol is served openly in the conservative Muslim territory. Nobody was hurt, but the attack added to security fears.

The United Nations is generally seen favorably in Gaza, where it is the second biggest employer after the Palestinian Authority.

Wow, talk about shooting yourself in the foot! The Israelis leave Gaza and suddenly the Palestinians are attacking their best friends, the United Nations?

My predicted U.N. response: “We will never change our idea about the occupation. We are with the Palestinian people”.

S.S.D.Y.

Israel suspends offensive???

Sounds like a Palestinian offensive to me:

But in three days, Palestinians have fired 5 Qassam missiles, six anti-tank rockets and a half dozen mortar shells at Israeli military and civilian targets outside its borders. Israel army patrols were shot at five times.

Anyway, it was my understanding of the word “offensive” that it applied to the people trying to attack and destroy a country, not to those trying to defend one.

But silly me, I guess Reuters knows best.

In the meantime, Hamas is giving the real picture:

Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced on Monday that they have reached an agreement with the Palestinian Authority according to which the two groups would not be disarmed.

[ . . . ]

“We stressed during the meeting that the Palestinians have the right to continue the resistance [against Israel] and that there would be no attempt to collect weapons from the resistance groups,” he added.

“The weapons of the resistance were founded to defend the Palestinian people and resist the occupation. The Gaza victory was achieved with the weapons of the resistance, which is the only strategy to drive Israel out of the rest of our lands.”

Any questions?

Anyway, this weekend did not rain as was predicted. In fact, it was sunny and beautiful. I hope everyone took advantage. Justin Trudeau sure did.

So what is it with the French and rejecting constitutions anyway? I think Chriac should simply insist on a Notwithstanding Clause.

Quote of the day: “President Bush has made a mistake in his show of support for Abbas (or Arafat in a Brooks Brothers Suit with better barber).” I never quite understood why Arafat, with all his millions, couldn’t afford to look better. Or, for that matter, why Suha never bought some sorely-needed plastic surgery. Oh, was that rude? I’m so sorry. I should know better than to insult dead terrorists. That would be uncivilized.

Speaking of terrorists, Abbas is making more threats, suggesting that suicide bombings “may be over” (yeah right) while threatening more if “progress” is not made. How, I wonder, does Abbas define “progress”? Israel is set to let 400 terrorists back on the streets, and the Palestinians are set to… do nothing but complain and launch more violent attacks, as usual. When was the last time the Palestinian side made any “gestures”?

On the home front, with Parliament set to get back to work tomorrow, amidst the scandals and non-confidence votes, Liberal MP Irwin Cotler dares to suggest that the government get some actual work done by passing proposed bills legalizing same-sex marriage and decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana. A valid argument. We’re paying all these people to govern, it’s about time they get on with it. Of course, the Tories oppose both bills, but I wonder whether Stephen Harper is capable of trying to attack the issues, or if he’s programmed to a single note and will keep hammering away on the sponsorship scandal instead?

Martin said Friday the money was targeted towards helping the Palestinians build democratic institutions, such as an independent judiciary, and to improve housing.

[ . . . ]

“It is just a down payment,” Martin told a news conference in Ottawa.

“Canada and the international community must clearly do much more at this crucial moment in the Middle East,” he said, explaining that any additional money will be contingent on Abbas following through on promised reforms.

Yeah right, cause the Palestinians have had such a great track record on that front in the past.

Mind you, Canada’s money pales in comparison to the $150 million aid package that Bush offered Abbas earlier this week. I guess now we know how the next round of bombs will be funded.

It’s the same old story, on a different day. There is no truce. Anyone who thinks there still is one, after this attack, the Tel Aviv nightclub bombing, and a host of other attacks and attempts, is either delusional or blind.

I notice one thing missing from this story though: a claim of responsibility. Could it be that the Palestinian terrorists are no longer eager to claim their handiwork because they fear the consequences of Abbas’s “crackdown”? If Abbas were truly cracking down, perhaps. But more likely, the terrorists were just embarrassed this time around at their utter failure to kill Jews.

Nothing much changes.

Israel cancelled a meeting with Palestinian negotiators on Thursday following a mortar attack on a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian official said.

Ha’aretz reports that Abbas fired his security commanders in response to the mortar attacks:

Palestinian Cabinet Secretary Hassan Abu Libdeh said Abbas took “punitive measures against officers who did not undertake their responsibilities, which led to the latest developments in Gaza,” dismissing several commanders and accepting the resignations of others.

“These are very dangerous developments, and they violate the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority,” Abu Libdeh said. “No one can continue with these violations.

Excuse me but, what does Abbas expect? Most of his so-called “security forces” are terrorists or terrorist wannabes, and he’s already made it clear that he has no intention of cracking down on terrorism. Either Abbas is incredibly naive or – more likely – expected this all along and is welcoming the excuse to avoid the bargaining table.

Opportunity for peace? Yeah, sure. As Allison says, it’s more like Groundhog Day:

Over the past four years, we’ve been burned and we’ve been hurt. We’ve tried to believe in ceasefires and been disappointed. And while it did us good to see what happened in Sharm el-Sheikh, it’s going to take more than fancy speeches to make us believe we are finally headed towards a real peace.

When it comes to the Mideast, unfortunately the lesson is that if you never expect anything, you’ll never be disappointed.

Reading between the lines, though, we see the telling of an entirely different story. For example, the article claims that the “sides are moving quickly”. Let’s see what each side has done so far:

“Today, in my meeting with chairman Abbas, we agreed that all Palestinians will stop all acts of violence against all Israelis everywhere, and, at the same time, Israel will cease all its military activity against all Palestinians everywhere,” he said.

Yay, no more violence. But…

But the Palestinian militant group Hamas immediately called the deal into question. The group’s representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, told The Associated Press it would not be bound by the Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire declarations.

So in other words, the terrorists will continue their attacks, and Abbas will continue Arafat’s tradition of claiming to have no control over them and nothing to do with them. Meanwhile, Israel will have tied its hands in being able to respond.

Moving on…

In signs the two sides are working quickly, Palestinian negotiator Hassan Abu Libdeh said the leaders agreed that 500 Palestinian prisoners would be freed immediately by Israel, to be followed by 400 more at a later stage.

So Israel is sending more terrorists back on the streets, freeing them to kill again. What are the Palestinians doing in return?

Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, a key parliamentary committee narrowly approved a bill that would allow Mr. Sharon to carry out his planned pullout from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank in the summer. The vote passed 10-9 on a subject that has split the party and angered one of its main constituencies — settlers and their supporters.

Nope, that’s another move by Israel. A biggie. Still searching for a Palestinian concession here.

During the summit, Mr. Sharon also invited Mr. Abbas to visit him at his ranch in southern Israel and Abbas accepted, according to a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official, Gideon Meir. Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said that meeting would take place soon.

Nice gesture. Maybe they can go snorkeling together. But I’m not sure how this amounts to any kind of Palestinian concession.

Gissin said that as part of Israel’s halting of military operations, it would stop its controversial assassinations of wanted Palestinians, as long as the Palestinians kept militants under control.

Another concession from Israel. Where are the Palestinian confidence-building moves?

Whoops, we’ve reached the end of the article. I haven’t seen any yet.

I suppose it’s that people are so sick of war, they’re grasping at straws for hopes for peace, even though they’ve all been down this road before and they know full well where it leads. Sad, but not really unpredictable.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will declare a formal end to more than four years of fighting at a summit in Egypt on Tuesday, officials from both sides said Monday.

[ . . . ]

“The most important thing at the summit will be a mutual declaration of cessation of violence against each other,” said Palestinian Minister Saeb Erekat.

An Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the cease-fire agreement, adding that the deal would also include an end to Palestinian incitement against Israel.

So why am I skeptical here? Is it because previous cease-fire attempts have only led to more bloodshed? Is it because despite the signs of hope, the lessons learned the hard way from Oslo teach us that there are no easy answers? Or am I just too much of a pessimist? Nah… couldn’t be. Especially with news like this.

I hope that this is a step towards peace. Unfortunately, I fear that it’s just another futile effort.

Update: “You may say I’m a pessimist… but I’m not the only one”. Here’s Caroline Glick (via Lynn B.):

So, here we are again, at the dawn of a new peace process which will bring no peace; will legitimize terrorists and the authoritarian regimes that support them; will weaken Israel’s democratic institutions while endangering its citizenry; and will engender scorn for America and faith in Israel’s eventual destruction in the hearts of millions of people who today waver between support for freedom and support for terror.

I hope she’s wrong. But sadly, I know she’s probably right.

“Israel is severing all planned contacts with the Palestinians on all levels, from security to government leadership,” spokesman Assaf Shariv said, a day after the assault that defied Abbas’s calls for non-violence.

“Everything is canceled until they take steps against terror, so we can see there is not only talk but also action. Abbas knows who carried out the attack, so he will be the one to stop them. It’s very easy,” he said.

Sharon has known all along that Abbas is no “moderate”. He had to give it the old college try for the record, but it certainly didn’t last long for Abbas to muck it up.

As far as mideast politics is concerned, looks like we’re back to regularly-scheduled programming.

Of course, the day was marked by gunfire… shots into the air in celebration by Fatah gunmen. I admit I’ve never quite understood that one. Is it like firecrackers? Or is it done in order to be able to blame Israel for anyone killed accidentally by the stray bullets? Or both?

However, optimism and Mideast politics tend to go together about as well as oil and water. The telling part of that editorial is the following paragraph:

It’s unfortunate that Abbas chose the low road on the campaign trail, and so far has not prepared his people for the painful compromises that they, too, will have to make on the road to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

That’s quite an understatement, to say the least. For anyone still harbouring the delusion that Mahmoud Abbas is a “moderate”, see here and here, for starters.

I hate to rain on everyone’s parade, but Abbas is just a weaker Arafat. This campaign isn’t about who will finally show some real leadership and help the Palestinians achieve statehood and independence. It’s about who will work hardest to destroy Israel.

I’m glad Arafat’s gone. But my hopes for true Palestinian democracy and a real peace process are very slim.

“The uprising is a legitimate right of the people to express their rejection of the occupation by popular and social means,” Abbas said. “Using the weapons was harmful and has got to stop.”

[ . . . ]

“We, at this stage, are against the militarization of the intefadeh (uprising) because we want to negotiate. And because we want to negotiate, the atmosphere should be calm in preparation for political action,” Abbas said. “That’s why we have frankly called for . . . an end to the militarization of the intefadeh.”

Too good to be true? You betcha! Reverting to type, Abbas has probably calculated that calling for less dead innocent Israelis would make him very unpopular among the Palestinian people, and has pretty much reversed himself:

“I don’t want my comment on the demilitarization of the uprising to be misunderstood … All I meant is that we are in a phase that does not necessitate arms because we want to negotiate,” Abbas said in Riyadh where he ended an official visit Wednesday.

The problem with Abbas is that he’ll never be more than a puppet leader. It doesn’t matter what he truly believes, because he isn’t strong enough to carry it out. Barghouti’s withdrawal from the leadership race was probably little more than a calculation that right now, the world powers are clamouring for peace, so he figures he’ll set Abbas up to fail. Then someone – Barghouti, or perhaps a Hamas leadership – can step in once the people are screaming for arms again.

Yes, I’m a pessimist. But it’s hard to be much else when it comes to the Mideast.

Yasser Arafat’s interim successor escaped injury in a Gaza gunfight triggered by hostile militants on Sunday as Palestinian officials set Jan. 9 for elections to replace the late president and avert a feared power vacuum.

[ . . . ]

The incident began after gunmen from Arafat’s splintered Fatah movement shouting “No to Abu Mazen” — Abbas’s nickname — marched by him as he stood outside the tent, paused and began firing shots into the air.

The gunmen’s rifles were pointed upwards, not at Abbas and Palestinian officials said it was not an assassination attempt.

Members of Arafat’s presidential guard hustled Abbas, 69, into the tent and threw him to the ground for his safety as the militants burst in. Chaos ensued as gunmen and bodyguards began shooting at each other. In the end, two bodyguards lay dead and four other Palestinians were wounded, medics said.

As gunfire blazed about him, Abbas was hustled to safety in his local office. The gunmen withdrew and no one was arrested.

“We were paying condolences. Emotions were high. There was random gunfire and pushing in the crowd,” a calm-looking Abbas told reporters at his office afterward.

I wonder if the anyone actually believes that. I’m betting Abbas doesn’t.

Arafat’s barely cold in his grave and it’s starting already. It appears that nobody will even wait out the “40 days of mourning” before starting a civil war. And in this kind of civil war, the winners will be the most violent, the least moderate, and the worst enemies of Israel.

What was that about an “opportunity for peace”, Mr. Bush?

Israel’s formal decision to remove him seems to have strengthened Arafat, who is widely regarded as the iconic guardian of modern Palestinian nationalism and a shrewd politician.

By all appearances, Arafat’s stock has risen, both among the Palestinian masses and in the international arena.

Palestinians have staged vigils in front of his compound, promising to protect him from harm. It hardly matters whether these love-ins were fabricated or genuine.

More importantly, Arafat wields full authority over the PA once again. Arafat forced his first prime minister and rival, the hapless and ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas, to resign after refusing to cede control of the all-powerful security forces. Ahmed Qureia, Abbas’ would-be successor, is completely beholden to Arafat. Israel has gone on record as saying it will not co-operate with “anyone taking orders directly from Arafat.” So that leaves the already tattered road map peace plan in shreds.

The road map was in shreds long before it even began. But that’s beside the point.

Israel, in trying to threaten Arafat, has managed to undo years of efforts to sideline him and make him irrelevant in one fell swoop. And so now it has to deal with him again.

Dahlan said he does not want to join the council, which includes all the security chiefs, several officials, Qurei, and Arafat, since it will not be able to make any decisions.

A source close to Dahlan said the members on the council are all rivals and the one who will be in charge is Arafat.

Dahlan was brought into the Abbas government supposedly over Arafat’s objections, and has a reputation as being against terrorism and violence.

Of course, people keep getting drawn into these Palestinian power-play shows as though they’re real . . . as though the “moderates” aren’t just playing a part for the media . . . as though anyone could get into government over Arafat’s objections. It’s all an elaborate hoax that people keep swallowing. And central to that hoax is that if Israel would just (insert action here), then the Palestinians would make peace tomorrow.

This new puppet government won’t be any different than the old one.

And I’m starting to come to the conclusion that Bush is wrong, that democracy isn’t the best precondition to impose on the Palestinians at this stage.

Democracy is a great system . . .when supported by the people. But its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness in a population that is more resistant to change than its leadership. Look at Canada’s attempt to push through gay marriage, to the opposition of a large portion of the population. When the people aren’t ready for something, in a democracy, the government is usually too weak to make it happen.

So when you have a population that’s less than amenable to drastic change, then it takes a very strong leadership to push this change through. And a courageous, visionary leadership, capable of being ahead of the times and seeing possibilities that the population may not be ready for yet. Unfortunately, the Palestinians have no such leadership. Instead, they have Arafat, a corrupt dictator content to push them around and fan the flames of hatred and violence when it suits his personal ends.

But a free and open election tomorrow among the Palestinian people would probably result in the election of Hamas.

It’s utter racist nonsense to say that the Arab countries can’t deal with democracy. But it’s political reality to say that democracy can’t be externally imposed upon a population that isn’t yet ready for it. No country in the world came to democracy without first trying a whole host of other options for decades, centuries, or millennia. It’s still relatively new to the Western World, in the grand scheme of things. And it works – precariously, shakily – but it it works here, because the values of the people are in line with the values of free and open government.

So maybe instead of insisting on democracy before heading back to the bargaining table, Bush and the outside world should insist that the Palestinians come forth with some form of leadership willing to denounce terror and embrace reconciliation – whether their populations like it or not. And they should insist that this leadership has the backing and means necessary to enforce this. That can’t easily be propped up externally either – the West has backed enough corrupt dictators in its day, and has yet to learn its lesson – but there are more options within middle east politics for this form of government. The power structures and economic and social realities need to catch up before democracy can have an honest go.

It’ll happen. And sooner, rather than later, most likely. But it can’t happen right now, as these cabinets – each more of a joke than the last – are showing us.

What gets me is that the international media is buying this second-rate acting job. Abbas never did a thing to try to curb terrorism. This lets him claim to the West that he was trying but had his hands tied. And it lets him escape the puppet role that they set him up for without actually trying to make any changes – because he never wanted to in the first place.

In the meantime, only Israel has shown a willingness to fight this terror organization, and it’s a costly fight indeed – for both sides. Today’s operation to kill senior Hamas commander Mohammed al-Hanbali cost the life of an IDF soldier and wounded four more. It also collapsed the apartment structure where al-Hanbali was hiding, meaning 28 Palestinian families became homeless. And of course, Hamas will clamour for “revenge”, which it will take out on more innocent schoolchildren riding buses, or grandmothers shopping in supermarkets, or teenagers at a nightclub.

The US and especially the EU calls this a “cycle of violence”, implying that it is an endless chain of morally-equivalent actions and reactions on both sides. They then tend to blame Israel on the ground that Israel is the occupying power and the Palestinians are being occupied. I suppose using those overly simplistic leaps of logic, this makes sense somehow.

But, of course, there is no moral equivalence between assassinating a terrorist murderer, and blowing up a busload of innocent civilians. None whatsoever. Israel is engaged in defence while the Palestinian terrorists are engaged in offence. Israel’s goal is peace and security; the goal of the Palestinians is the eradication of Israel. No, not the same thing at all.

Unfortunately, the world seems to think that the terrorists are reasonable people and that they should be tiptoed around and negotiated with. Israel knows that there is no chance of peace with Hamas, or an Arafat-led PA, calling the shots. So they’ll keep fighting this war against terrorism and the world will keep on blaming them for it . . . until it’s won.

The entire article only mentions the suicide bombing that killed 20 and injured over 80, once – and in the sixth paragraph, in a single sentence (without any mention of the children killed and wounded). The focus was on Israel’s “odious crime” (the article quotes Mahmoud Abbas in a sub-header) in its assassination of Ismail Abou Chanab, the Hamas terrorist responsible for the attack. The article presents Abu Chanab in a sympathetic light, as though it was an obituary, and clearly points the finger at Israel for “only giving the Palestinian Authority 24 hours” to react to terrorism before sending in the IDF. As if 36 hours would have made any difference . . . or 48 hours . . . or a week or a year, for that matter:

Mahmoud Abbas, le premier ministre palestinien, a été informé de l’assassinat d’Ismail Abou Chanab alors qu’il était en discussion avec John Wolf, l’émissaire américain chargé de la mise en application de la “feuille de route”, le plan de paix international, qui venait de rentrer précipitamment de Washington en raison de la tournure prise par les évènements. “C’est un crime odieux qui sape nos plans d’action contre les activistes palestiniens”, a regretté Mahmoud Abbas.

La veille, son gouvernement avait décidé de contrer le Hamas et le Djihad islamique, après l’attentat meurtrier de Jérusalem, mardi 19 août, qui a causé la mort de vingt personnes, blessant une centaine d’autres. Il restait à mettre au point certaines finalités en accord avec Yasser Arafat. Comme le dit un responsable palestinien, “le gouvernement de Sharon ne nous a même pas laissé 24 heures pour prouver le sérieux de nos intentions. Il a saboté nos plans et rendu un très mauvais service à Abou Mazen”, le surnom de Mahmoud Abbas. Et cela d’autant plus qu’Ismail Abou Chanab avait été l’un des interlocuteurs privilégiés du premier ministre lorsqu’il s’était agi d’instaurer la trève.

Abbas “decided to act against terrorism”??? Yet another example of Le Monde parroting Palestinian propaganda as fact, without bothering to provide any context whatsoever. No wonder the French hate Israel, if they believe articles like this one.

Point #1: You can’t “end” a cease-fire that never existed in the first place. Throughout the so-called hudna, both terrorist groups continued to carry out attacks against Israel civilians. This announcement only recognizes the actual state that has been in place all along.

Point #2: The statement that the ending of the cease-fire is “in response” to Israel’s assassinations of a Hamas leader is hypocricy at its core. Of course, the world has a short memory. The Palestinians know that they can murder 20 innocent Jews on a Jersualem bus one day, including small children, and the next day claim that they’re ending a cease-fire “in response” to Israel’s retaliation, and that the world will blame Israel. As usual.

Point #3: Anyone who thinks Hamas’s statement against Abbas will result in civil war is kidding themselves. Abbas won’t fight back against Hamas. He hasn’t shown the slighest bit of power or courage in taking on the terrorist groups since assuming his leadership role. He’s been propped up by the US and the international community until now, but he’s got no real power. And things can only get worse, as the inevitable showdown that Abbas has been avoiding is finally called by Hamas.

Sometimes I get so angry while writing this stuff up that I can barely find the right keys to type.

In an attempt to persuade Hamas and other radical Palestinian factions to agree to a temporary cease-fire with Israel, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas offered to give the groups political representation in a newly formed body called the unified national leadership.

Abbas, who met with leaders of all the Palestinian factions in Gaza City Tuesday and Wednesday night, told them that PA Chairman Yasser Arafat agreed to form a unified national leadership within the PLO.

Abbas had a critical choice to make. He could confront Hamas and the other terrorist factions head-on, or he could capitulate to them. It looks like he chose the latter, and this is the worst possible news for the Palestinian people, who are being relegated to live under terrorist leadership for a long time in the future. Now, these terrorists will be given legitimacy in the Palestinian government:

Hamas leaders said following Tuesday’s talks with Abbas that they might consider a proposal that restricts terrorist attacks to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Abdel Aziz Rantisi, one of Hamas’s top officials who participated in the discussions, said his movement is studying the proposal according to which it would halt its suicide attacks inside Israel but continue targeting IDF soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Abbas himself has been quoted on many occasions making this distinction between innocent lives on one or the other side of the “green line”. Apparently if you live in Tel Aviv, your life is worth more than if you live in Efrat.

The US government has been propping up Abbas, and will probably live to regret this, as he is making it clearer by the day that he intends to give the terrorists full reign and control over Palestinian society. I wish it were different for them. I wish they could break free of this oppressive leadership and institute a government willing to make concrete steps towards peace. I have untold sympathy for the millions of Palestinian people who keep falling victim to corrupt leaders that throw them at the mercy of the terrorist groups.

But my sympathy doesn’t extend so far as to excuse terrorism and murder of innocent Israelis. Only the Palestinian people can decisively change their society by choosing en masse to reject Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and their terrorist ilk. And this doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime in the near future.

But now, precisely how intends to rein in the terrorists to achieve that end is a total mystery, as Abbas doesn’t seem prepared to do anything but ask “pretty please”:

Commenting on the Hamas move, Palestinian cabinet minister Ziad Abu Amr signaled Abbas would do his utmost to steer clear of armed conflict with the group. The government, Abu Amr said, made a commitment “not to resort to force” in internal affairs.

There’s only one way to destroy the terrorist orgnaizations, and that is by attacking them head-on to dismantle them. As long as Abbas tiptoes around Hamas, he is only announcing that he has no real power. And the doomed-from-the-start “road map” will accomplish absolutely nothing except force Israel into further unmatched concessions.

“We will never be ready to lay down arms until the liberation of the last centimeter of the land of Palestine,” Hamas official Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi said. Islamic Jihad, another group sworn to Israel’s destruction, followed suit.

Sharon can uproot every single settlement in the West Bank, and there will still not be peace. The Palestinians can get a state tomorrow, and there will still not be peace. Because the objective of the terrorists isn’t peace with Israel, it’s no more Israel.

Sharon knows this. He got elected – twice – based on his understanding of this. And yet he’s still making disastrous concessions that will only come back to haunt him. All because Bush wants to get re-elected.

Peace has to be wanted by the people. It can’t be rammed down their throats. In the meantime, concessions in a time of war are signs of weakness, and I fear Israel will pay dearly.

If Bush wants to get anywhere with this, he must stop avoiding and accommodating Arab intransigence and deploy the moral clarity that has been his hallmark. He must call the Arab world to end the conflict it began, not in 1967, but in 1947, when it rejected the United Nation’s partition of this land into “Arab” and “Jewish” states. Today, the issue is not Israelis who cannot utter the words “Palestinian state,” but Arab leaders Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and Mubarak who cannot utter the words “Jewish state.”

Read the rest. I shouldn’t even have to tell you.

Abbas will declare in his speech at the Aqaba summit on Wednesday, that the “armed intifada must come to an end, and (the Palestinians) will turn to peaceful measures”. The draft of the Palestinian statement, which has reached diplomatic sources in Jerusalem, also states that “we will invest all our efforts, while using all the means at our disposal, to alter the intifada’s military nature, and we will succeed”.

But, lest anyone get their hopes up too high, the endless finger-pointing hasn’t changed and probably never will:

Palestinian officials complained that Israel has not yet agreed to come out with an equally strong statement promising to end its military raids in PA areas.

Sometimes the conflict reminds me of a fight between two children who are playing up for their parents’ attention:

“He started it!”

“No, she started it!”

“Mom, tell him to stop!”

“STOP IT, BOTH OF YOU”

“But Mom, that’s not fair! He started it!”

Of course, that’s not the reason the Road Map will fail. The terrorists will gladly make sure of that by launching attacks on more innocent Israeli civilians the minute it looks like anything is getting too close. Despite Abbas’s being propped up by the US, he has no real power or popularity among the Palestinian people. Unlike Sharon, he was appointed, not elected, and polls show him with less than 2% of the public’s support. His words are a mere drop in the bucket, even assuming he actually meant them.

But in the meantime, neither Sharon nor Abbas wants to be the first to throw a monkey wrench in the process, thus pissing off Bush. So it stumbles forward on its doomed path. And all I can do is hope that, unlike Oslo, this map won’t lead Israel straight to more misery and that it won’t cost nearly as many innocent lives.

Erekat, an ally of President Yasser Arafat, tendered his resignation on Thursday after being excluded from [Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud] Abbas’s negotiating team, which is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Saturday, a Palestinian official said on Friday.

It’s hard to tell what the political implications here will be. On the one hand, it can be seen as another key Palestinian figure refusing to support Abbas, thus weakening his new and shaky power in the Palestinian Authority. On the other hand, Eraket was a terror supporter and apologist, and the only thing quicker than his propensity for invention of facts was his automatic finger-pointing at Israel no matter what was going on. Not exactly the qualities needed in a negotiator.

His resignation has not yet been accepted so it’s possible this whole thing is just a scheme to get attention, and he’ll be right back in his position within days. It’s always hard to figure out what will happen in an iron-fist dictatorship that is trying to pass itself off to the world as having made nonexistent democratic reforms.

The bottom line is, this is unlikely to affect the talks between Sharon and Abbas due to take place tomorrow.

Sharon is probably just as aware as anyone that Abbas (or Abu Mazen, as he is better known) is no more a partner for peace than the Pope is a candidacy for Chief Rabbi. But he has to at least give him this chance, or risk losing face internationally as the deal-breaker in this current push towards peace. Israel’s reputation in Europe is already rock-bottom, but Sharon needs to at least give the American plan a chance, because Israel needs American support. So Israel has to go through the motions, knowing full well that the Palestinians can never and will never hold up their end of the bargain. But when this latest effort falls apart, it’s important to Sharon’s government that it not appear to be Israel’s fault.

Abu Mazen, for his part, doesn’t seem to want to let Israel get away with this. He’s planned talks with Hamas and Islamic Jihad to – he says – try to talk them into halting attacks against Israel:

Abbas “will try to convince the Palestinian factions to end terror attacks…there is a chance that Hamas has changed its position and will agree to end attacks,” following the Iraq war and the ensuing US pressure on Syria to shut the offices of Palestinian groups in Damascus, Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr said. “Of course these talks will not go on indefinitely,” he said.

Abbas is not naive, not by far. He didn’t get to be a senior member of the Palestinian Authority by being so innocently idealistic – or so innocent, but that’s another story. He knows full well that Hamas and the Islamic Jihad will never agree to halt attacks. He also knows that they wouldn’t be able to carry them out without the backing of Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. And at this stage, he can’t afford another all-out power struggle with Arafat, even if he wanted to – which, by all indications, he doesn’t.

It’s easy for Abbas to claim he “tried” to halt attacks, and then later to say he has no control over the extremist factions. And then to turn around and point the finger at Israel for whatever counter-measures the Israeli army needs to take in response to the inevitable step-up in attacks. In the meantime, Abbas will order his police force to seek out the terrorists and arrest a few token ones (probably with the full advance knowledge and consent of the terrorist leaders) and then blame Israel again when the talks fall apart.

Everyone knows this. But they all go through the motions anyway. *Sigh*.

While recent newsmedia profiles of Abu Mazen have accentuated the Palestinian leader’s alleged “terrorism-free” personal history, the Shurat Hadin charges that in 1972, Abu Mazen, then a high ranking PLO official, provided financing for the terrorist attacks being perpetrated by Yassir Arafat’s PLO faction Fatah under the nom de guerre Black September.

Shurat Hadin is basing its information on published statements by the terrorist who masterminded the the Munich attack, Mohammed Daoud Oudeh (”Abu Daoud”). In his French-language autobiography, Palestine: From Jerusalem to Munich, Abu Daoud describes the role of Abu Mazen in providing the funds to carry out the Black September Olympic attack.

Furthermore, in an interview with journalist Don Yaeger of Sports Illustrated Magazine in August 2002, Abu Daoud reiterated his charges that Abu Mazen supplied the money for the deadly attack.

The sad thing is that we seem to have such low expectations of anyone who can step up to assume a leadership role in the Palestinian Authority. It is pretty much taken for granted that someone who is truly against terrorism can never survive politically, and will never have any clout. So the U.S. and Europe are willing to overlook many things about the man they are backing, Abu Mazan. And they’ll probably overlook this as well.

But then, it is CBC. What else can we expect from them but a bend-over-backwards-to-be-evenhanded approach that draws a moral equivalency between Israeli defense and Palestinian terror?

The terrorist was trying to board a commuter train in Kfar Saba, a town outside Tel Aviv. The hero of the story is a security guard, Alexander Kostiyuk, 23, of Bat Yam. So far the only reported casualty, Kostiyuk was apparently suspicious of the bomber, and detained the him by asking for his papers, essentially acting as a human shield when the bomber then detonated his explosive on the platform:

“This is a true hero who prevented a huge disaster,” Sharon district police chief Amichai Shai told The Jerusalem Post in an interview after the attack.

At least 14 other people were injured.

The timing of this attack is just further evidence that the Palestinian terror factions will never allow progress to be made towards a peace agreement. It comes only a day after an agreement between Arafat and Abu Mazan, the newly-appointed Palestinian Prime Minister, allowed for a cabinet to be named. Although this is a farce of democracy, foreign powers including Britain and, to some extent, the United States, seem ready to view these changes as steps towards the infamous “road map”, and are preparing for a new drive towards a peace agreement.

And of course, every time someone decides – mainly as a political move – to begin pushing for peace in the middle east, terrorism increases. The problem is that these groups will never accept peace under any circumstances, so they will continue to carry out terror attacks – the one thing sure to derail any peace process – in order to prevent negotiations from moving forward.

In the meantime, people keep dying.

Palestinian prime minister-designate, Mahmoud Abbas, ended his bitter standoff with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat over the formation of a new Cabinet on Wednesday: Abbas will double as interior minister, and Mahmoud Dahlan will serve as state minister for security affairs, according to Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath.

[ . . . ]

Arafat had challenged several Abbas appointments, particularly that of former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan to a key security post. However, at the root of the conflict appeared to have been the Palestinian leader’s reluctance to share power with Abbas, who has the backing of international Mideast mediators.

[ . . . ]

By law, Abbas has the sole authority to form the Cabinet, but in practice needs Arafat’s blessing. The ruling Fatah party, which sided with Arafat in the showdown, commands a solid majority in parliament, and it remained unclear whether Abbas’ Cabinet would win approval.

There’s no denying that both Arafat and Abbas are corrupt. So it frequently baffles me how international observers are watching this debacle with signs of hope. This is not real democracy, where one leader gets to veto everything that other officials do, and that these officials are appointed, not elected. Why people are going around calling it democratic reform is beyond me.

Sir, – Many media and public figures are bubbling over with praise for Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, for the reason that he is a “moderate.” Shimon Peres says he is a man we can talk to.

However, “The haji: Arafat’s new prime minister” (March 10) notes that Abu Mazen is a Holocaust revisionist. Thus were his name Irving or Zundel, our reaction to him would be disgust. We also hear that Abu Mazen’s moderation and disavowing of violence apply only to those Jews living within the Green Line; for Jews on the other side he advocates death. We furthermore read that Abu Mazen’s objections to violence stem not from any moral or ethical scruples, but solely because violence is not in the interests of the Palestinian people.

So how is it this man elicits so much admiration? Perhaps it is blind faith, or desperation. Or weariness of the struggle. Perhaps it is fantasy and daydreams. Perhaps it is madness.

Whatever it is, let us at least have the courage to recognize evil and reject the notion of making a deal with the devil.

YEHUDA DANZIGER

Efrat

Unfortunately, thanks to the media, terms like “moderate” and “extremist” tend to get distorted and thrown around. The most moderate Palestinian leader has been involved in terrorism; conversely, even the so-called “extremist” Jewish settlers are for the most part just quiet people trying to raise their families and live their lives. When the international press touts Abu Mazen as a hero, and at the same time slams Ariel Sharon, we know there’s something off-kilter. It’s about time we had the courage and moral fortitude to recognize it.

Yasser Arafat’s top deputy said the armed uprising against Israel has been a mistake for the Palestinians and must be stopped, declaring it had held up Palestinian independence and let to a reoccupation of West Bank cities by Israeli troops.

Mahmoud Abbas is widely considered to be a potential successor to Arafat, and these comments mark a pointed departure in Palestinian Authority policy. Among Abbas’s remarks, he stated that:

“Many people diverted the uprising from its natural path and embarked on a path we can’t handle, with the use of weapons … such as mortars, grenades and shooting from houses and populated areas. [. . .] If we do a calculation of the gains and losses … we will see that without any doubt is that what we lost was big and what we gained was small. [. . .] We should … ask ourselves where we are headed, not by beating ourselves up, but by reviewing the mistakes we have made. [. . .] What happened in these two years, as we see it now, is a complete destruction of everything we built.“

According to the Jerusalem Post, Abbas is further quoted as saying:

“Every Jew in Israel is now with Sharon because they believe he is defending them. I want to take this excuse from him by saying that we want our rights and we don’t want war. Then the number of Israelis who stand with us will grow.”

Pre-election posturing? Or does he really feel that way? If so, does he have enough will or clout to sway public opinion among Palestinians, or even bring about a reduction or cessation of violence? Little is known, but clearly Israel is watching this guy closely and trying to figure out what the next move should be.

Unfortunately, I doubt he will live long enough to make these statements too many more times. I’m sure he’s at the top of some Hamas hit list as we speak. Sadly, voices of moderation have been historically drowned out by extremists – and not just in the Middle East.

But his comments may serve a larger purpose, even despite the threat. They may be giving a voice to a rising sentiment among the Palestinian population.

A poll released last week showed more Palestinians expressing doubts than before about the effectiveness of the uprising. Asked if it was achieving its goals, 39 per cent said it was, while 36 per cent said it wasn’t, according to the survey by the Palestinian Centre for Public Opinion, which had a margin of error of three percentage points.

Like I said earlier, peace can only be achieved with the support of the people involved. And it looks like more Palestinians are questioning the use of violence. Optimism is so unlike me, but this does seem like a step, albeit a small one. Hope? Is it even possible?