Posted on 01/10/2005 5:30:05 AM PST by SJackson
Israel and the region, not to mention the Palestinians themselves, have a great interest in the success of their democracy. Just months ago, conventional wisdom had it that the only alternatives to Yasser Arafat's leaden rule were radicalism or anarchy. Yesterday's generally orderly election and the weakness of the groups trying to keep the terror war alive show that these expectations were too low.
Now, however, the international community, perhaps with the acquiescence of our own government, may be headed toward the opposite mistake. Much stake is being placed in the margin of Mahmoud Abbas's victory (not known at this writing), as a measure of his power to enforce his opposition to the "militarization of the intifada." Experience, however, indicates that it is not the margin of victory that will be determinative, but the expectations of the international community and its willingness to enforce them.
Abbas, after all, has taken contradictory positions. While speaking out against terrorism (a word he does not use), including rocket attacks, he has also campaigned with terrorist leaders, lauded terrorists as heroes and clearly opposed using force to end attacks against Israel.
As a member of Fatah's Aksa Martyrs Brigades explained to our reporter, Khaled Abu Toameh, when asked whether they would continue attacks after their man, Abu Mazen, won, "Yes... We will stop only when there is a full withdrawal from the Palestinian areas and there is progress in the peace process. In the first phase, they must pull out from our cities; then, they must release all the prisoners, dismantle all the settlements and accept all the Palestinian demands. Then we will heed Abu Mazen's calls."
In this context, it would not be not be surprising if Abbas attempted to continue the path of his on-and-off mentor, Arafat, who would sometimes claim to be against violence, never lift a finger to stop it and always claim that he was too weak to take steps against terrorism without further Western support.
Rare is the leader who will take painful steps when he can avoid them. The path of least resistance is to make a show of effort, claim weakness and sit back and wait for the flurry of calls to "support Abu Mazen" to bear fruit.
This time, if the international community really cares about ending terror and the success of the Palestinian democratic project, it must behave differently. Financial support for the new-old Palestinian leader must be tightly linked both to ending terrorism and violence and to democratic reforms.
Our own government, it should go without saying, should not undermine such linkage. Though we can always hope it will be otherwise, it would hardly be a surprise if one of those opposing the tight linkage of aid to performance is our own incoming vice prime minister, Shimon Peres. If so, will Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agree? And if our own government is unwilling to hold Abbas's feet to the fire, can we expect the international community to take a tougher line?
It is necessary, but not sufficient, to link negotiations with an end to terror, because that could mean that Abbas chooses no negotiations and no end to terror, with the hope that in the end Israel will be pressured to negotiate under fire. The necessary linkage, then, is between the financial assistance on which the Palestinian Authority is wholly dependent and both ending violence and building democracy.
The latter tends to get short shrift, particularly in Israel. But a "cease-fire" cannot be built on the shifting sands of lawlessness and dictatorship. The New York Times reported on Sunday that last month a commander of one of the Gazan security forces shot a car mechanic dead for saying he would only fix his car the next day. "People know the killers, but no one touches them," Salah Abdel Shafi, a economist and political analyst, told the Times. "If you don't have ties to a security group or a big family or tribe, you're in trouble. A traffic dispute can lead to a murder." A lawless state won't stop terror and won't make peace.
Kill his sorry ass? Look at his and his followers statements over the last 2 weeks. People are deceiving themselves if they think this man will bring peace.
OR, just donate to Hillary2008
"Nice suit.... John Phillips/London, I have two myself. Rumor has it Arafat Abbas buys HIS there" -- Die Hard.
I think of 5.56 ways to help him and all his terrorist enablers....
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