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America in the Middle East

Powell brushes off Abbas?s terror connection


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
January 03, 2005

Outgoing US Secretary of State Colin Powell Sunday brushed off PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas’s recent pandering to “Palestinian” terrorist elements in the run-up to the January 9 PA leadership election.

Powell told NBC's “Meet the Press” that Abbas’s words of encouragement to the terror groups and his declared refusal to dismantle them did not reflect his true position.

The secretary’s comments typified the West’s long-standing policy of ignoring the public statements of “Palestinian” leaders, even when they constitute a gross violation of the PA’s signed peace agreements.

Israeli observers expressed grave concern over this practice, noting that progression through the various phases of the Road Map relied solely on the Middle East Quartet’s interpretation of the PA’s performance.

Oslo blinders

In their weekend interview, Powell told host Tim Russert he was not overly concerned with the fact Abbas and other “Palestinian” leaders continue to encourage violence against Israel’s Jews with their inflammatory comments.

Instead, Powell focused on the handful of times Abbas had urged a temporary downgrading of the terror to enable him to extract further concessions from Israel.

“What [Abbas] has been saying with respect to the need to end terror and the need to try
to persuade all segments of the Palestinian population to move away from terror and to move toward this opportunity for peace, that I believe is his prevailing position,” Powell said.

Powell dismissed Abbas’s chummy behavior with known terror bosses as “disturbing,” but a necessary part of reaching “out to all parts of the Palestinian community” during his election campaign.

Dr. Aaron Lerner of Independent Media Review and Analysis labeled Powell’s apathy to Abbas’s behavior a “return to the traditional Oslo blinders” — a reference to the West’s policy of speaking positively of “Palestinian” leaders even when they are violating their commitments.

“The lesson of Oslo is that what Palestinian leaders say and do for local consumption is reality,” writes Lerner.

Cracking down on terror

Displaying a greater degree of clarity, Powell acknowledged that Abbas’s plan to lessen anti-Israel violence by holding talks with the terror groups would likely not be enough.

“Mr. Abbas said he hopes to persuade them, but that may not be enough. The challenge may be greater than that. He may have to undertake operations against them,” Powell said.

The so-called Oslo Accords obligate the Palestinian Authority to disarm and dismantle the various terror groups operating out of territories under its control, and provided it with a large “police” force to accomplish this goal.

Abbas won’t comply

But on Monday Abbas declared, “Palestinians taking up arms against each other will not happen.”

He insisted the terrorist killers of Jewish men, women and children were “heroes that are fighting for freedom.”

Those “heroes,” Abbas said, “should live a dignified and safe life.”

The PLO chief vowed to use all the resources available to him to protect the wanted killers from being eliminated by Israeli forces.

Israeli concerns

Lerner noted that Abbas’s behavior following Yasser Arafat’s death, and Washington’s indifference to it, are a cause for great concern in Israel.

The media analyst pointed out that the Road Map peace plan to which Israel has committed itself states that progression from one phase to another “relies on the exclusive judgment of the Quartet as to the relative - rather than absolute - performance of the Palestinians.”

“Such departures from reality can easily mean the formation of a sovereign Palestinian state and final status talks without the Palestinians ever fulfilling their Roadmap obligations,” Lerner explains.

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