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Peace Process

Abbas talks, but agreements go unfulfilled


By Ryan Jones
January 24, 2005

PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas Monday said that he hopes to very soon curb “Palestinian” terrorism by convincing the killers of Jewish men, women and children that for the time being, violence is the wrong path to choose.

“I hope to God that we reach a final [ceasefire] agreement in the very near future,” Abbas told Reuters.

It is the same message he has been delivering since officially taking over the Palestinian Authority on January 9.

Several Gaza-based terror groups, including those affiliated with Abbas’s Fatah faction, have already agreed to halt rocket and mortar attacks on Israelis, though armed aggression against Jews living in the Strip continues unabated.

But some are holding out.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad see no problem with Abbas’s plan to extract further concessions from the Jewish state via “negotiations.”

Before they take their finger off the trigger, however, the Islamists want Israel to cease defensive military operations against them, even if individual terror cells continue planning future massacres.

To ensure no major anti-Israel attacks occur as he continues high-profile talks with the groups, Abbas deployed his forces in northern Gaza last week, but ordered them not to arrest or open fire on any terrorists.

This despite the fact the PA’s signed agreements with Israel, all of which Abbas was a signatory to, obligate the “Palestinian” leader to disarm and dismantle the terror groups — by force if necessary — not conduct negotiations with them.

Phase I of the much-heralded Road Map requires the PA to not only “declare an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism,” but to also “undertake visible efforts on the ground to arrest, disrupt, and restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere.”

The US-backed peace plan goes on to say the PA must begin “sustained, targeted, and effective operations aimed at confronting all those engaged in terror and dismantlement of terrorist capabilities and infrastructure.”

“This includes commencing confiscation of illegal weapons and consolidation of security authority, free of association with terror and corruption,” according to the document.

The “Oslo”, Hebron, Wye River and Sharm el-Sheikh agreements all make similar, as yet unfulfilled demands.

Instead, Yasser Arafat’s heir allows Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah’s Al Aqsa Brigades to continue breathing, arming and planning. Meanwhile, their public popularity increases and the openly declared dream of one day annihilating the Jewish state is kept alive.

Abbas’s attempts to temporarily calm the situation by reasoning with the terrorists is certain to perpetuate the scourge of anti-Jewish Islamic terror and encourage Arab aggression by demonstrating the ability to gain political capital by means of violence.

Maybe that’s what he wants.

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