You have it backwards mike. Israel has a choice -- allow terrorism to derail the peace process or pursue peace despite the inability of Abbas to ensure Israeli security
You keep talking as if the PA and the guys doing terror were different groups. In Iraq, they are. Everyone knows that the Allawi government and the Ba'athist insurgency are enemies.
But, among the Palestinians, the terrorists and the PA are the same people, or close allies
That simple fact reduces everything you say to utter nonsense. If you "move forward" (which by you always means Israeli concessions only) under terror, you reward the terror. Any two year old can understand that much! This isn't Martians doing the terror, it's Fatah and Hamas! You say "Abbas didn't order the terror". With Abbas you are probably right. But you said the same about Arafat, and you were dead wrong about him, and have never admitted it yet.
But Abbas is now President of the PA, and if that means anything, it makes him responsible for the terror. If he isn't responsible, then it's no use to talk to him. If the name of the game is Israeli concessions with nothing given in return, then the Israelis should only talk to themselves and act unilaterally in what they judge are their own best interests.
But if the name of the game is actual negotiation, then it's Abbas' job to step up to plate and do Step 1 of the Roadmap: end the terror attacks. Abbas has now travelled to Gaza to beg and plead with Hamas for a hudna. Not encouraging, especially as he keeps saying how he'll protect the terrorists and never fight them. Lots of leverage there, not really. Hamas will laugh in his face. |
