 MYTH
#164
“Israel
must help Mahmoud Abbas improve his standing among Palestinians
to facilitate the peace process.”
FACT
The
death of Yasser
Arafat, who remained unwilling to make peace with Israel until
the end of his life, has stimulated hope that a new Palestinian
leader will emerge with the courage and vision of Anwar
Sadat and King
Hussein, who is prepared to negotiate the establishment of a
Palestinian state that will live in peace beside Israel.
The
Palestinians have chosen Mahmoud
Abbas to lead them, and now the Israelis are waiting to see
if he is prepared to take the necessary steps to advance the peace process.
Abbas is someone who is well-known to the Israelis, because he was
involved in past negotiations. They have welcomed his election and
Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon immediately announced his desire to meet with Abbas.
No
one should have any illusions about Abbas.
He was the number two person in the PLO
and a founder of the Fatah
terrorist organization. It is possible to find many irredentist
statements made in the past by the new President, some of which
were uttered during his recent campaign.
His uncompromising position on the “right of return” of Palestinian
refugees, for example, bodes ill for negotiations. On the other
hand, he also demonstrated the courage to publicly criticize the
intifada,
has said that violence has not helped the Palestinian cause, and
declared a readiness to make peace with Israel.
Some
suggestions are being made that Israel must make gestures to Abbas
to help him consolidate his power; however, Israel owes him nothing.
It is Abbas
who must show that he has both the will and ability to reform the
Palestinian
Authority (PA), to dismantle the terrorist networks, and to
end the violence. Words are insufficient; he must take action. The
agreements signed by the Palestinians are unequivocal about what
is required of them; they cannot evade their responsibilities with
conciliatory statements to the press in English or cease-fires with
groups such as Hamas
that remain committed to Israel’s destruction.
The
terrorists’ identities and locations are known. The PA has
an estimated 40,000 policemen and multiple security services. Abbas
must use the resources at his command to disarm and arrest anyone
who illegally possesses weapons and threatens or engages in violence.
Though
it has no obligation to do so, Israel has taken steps to show its
goodwill, including facilitating the Palestinian elections (which
international observers reported were unfettered by Israel [Jerusalem
Post, January 11, 2005]), releasing prisoners, and
withdrawing troops from parts of the territories. Israel has also
said it is prepared to negotiate the disengagement
rather than act unilaterally. A unity government
was formed in January 2005 that now includes the Labor
Party, which increases the flexibility Sharon
will have to negotiate in the future.
The
immediate hope for a negotiated settlement of the conflict between
Israelis and Palestinians now rests on the shoulders of Abbas.
The early days of his regime were not encouraging, as two terrorist
attacks were perpetrated (one of which killed six Israeli civilians,
two of whom were Arabs) in what either were direct challenges to
his leadership or an indication that he has not abandoned the two-track
policy of Arafat; namely, to talk about peace with the Western media
while calling for jihad
in Arabic and orchestrating a terror campaign against Israel.
Coexistence
is impossible unless Palestinian violence stops. There can be no
attacks on Jews anywhere, no mortars or rockets fired into Israel,
and no incitement to violence. This is not a case of giving extremists
a veto over negotiations; Israel has not said that Abbas must stop
100 percent of the incidents before it will talk, but Israel does
insist that he demonstrate a 100 percent effort to stop them.
Source:
Myths
& Facts Online -- A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict by
Mitchell G. Bard
|
Radio Kol Yisrael 
