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Terrorism

Sharm photo-op truce set to crumble


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
February 09, 2005

The cessation of violence jointly announced by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas before the cameras of the world in Sharm el-Sheikh Tuesday was a day later unmasked as the same ruse employed for years by Yasser Arafat.

Immediately following the one-day summit, the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations said they were not bound by Abbas’s declaration, which he made without first consulting them.

Palestinian Authority “foreign minister” Nabil Sha’ath indicated Wednesday that the terror groups would not be forced to comply with the truce. He insisted the Abbas regime had no intention of fulfilling its obligation to forcibly dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, and said Israel had misunderstood the PA leader in Sharm.

Meanwhile, Israel, in accordance with the wishes of the Bush administration, prepared to make further concessions as an act of goodwill towards the PA.

Sharm photo-op

The international media was inundated Wednesday with stories of optimism and hope after Sharon and Abbas met a day earlier for a brief “peace” summit.

Following their talks in the Sinai resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, the two men jointly announced an end to all hostilities between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs.

Both men told reporters they had agreed that all violence targeting Israeli Jews or Palestinian Arabs anywhere would cease immediately.

“We agreed that all Palestinians will stop all acts of violence against all Israelis everywhere, and – in parallel – Israel will cease all its military activity against all Palestinians anywhere,” Sharon said.

Abbas reciprocated, declaring “an end to all acts of violence against Palestinians and Israelis, wherever they are.”

Lacking substance

But Abbas admitted the two sides had failed to discuss any of their more substantial differences during their 24-hour stay in Sinai.

“What we agreed upon today is simply the beginning of the process of bridging the gap,” said Arafat’s longtime right hand man.

The issues of control over Jerusalem, Jewish settlements, Arab security prisoners and the security fence have yet to be addressed, Abbas noted.

Furthermore, a senior aide to Sharon said the truce deal did not contain any mechanism for dealing with possible ongoing “Palestinian” violence in violation of the agreement.

“There is no mechanism for dealing with [a terror attack]. If there is one we'll have to deal with it as it comes,” Avi Pazner told the Cybercast News Service.

Truce in the media only

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said immediately following the Sharon-Abbas meeting that they were not bound by the promises made by the PA leader.

“The talk about what the leader of the Palestinian Authority called a cessation of acts of violence is not binding on the resistance because this is a unilateral stand and was not the outcome of an intra-Palestinian dialogue as has been agreed previously," Hamas representative Osama Hamdan told the Associated Press.

Nevertheless, Hamas leaders said they would hold off on launching large-scale terror attacks until after they had met with Abbas.

The PA leader headed to Gaza Wednesday in an effort to persuade the terrorists to support the truce he had brokered with Israel. But Hamas and Jihad officials said they would lay their demands on the table, and would reject the ceasefire if they were not met.

An agreement to stop murdering Jewish men, women and children “cannot come for free,” top Gaza-based Jihad leader Nafez Azzam said.

The terror groups want Israel to free all jailed “Palestinians,” immediately halt construction of its security fence, and withdraw the IDF to positions held prior to September 2000.

PA non-compliance

In an interview with Al Jazeera Wednesday, Sha’ath indicated Abbas would not challenge the terrorists’ hard-line ceasefire requirements, all of which he too has demanded of Israel.

Sha’ath also said Israeli officials were misrepresenting Abbas’s statement in Sharm, pointing out the PA leader had never committed to dismantling the terror groups.

Instead, he explained, the Abbas regime would stick to its policy of conducting negotiations with the terrorists in order to achieve a temporary cessation of violence.

Sha’ath said the PA would never forcibly disarm the terrorists, despite the fact its signed agreements with Israel obligate it to do so.

Israeli concessions

Meanwhile, Israel Wednesday prepared to implement a package of goodwill gestures in payment for Abbas’s words.

Among other concessions, Jerusalem agreed to remove all military roadblocks in Judea and Samaria, withdraw the IDF from five “Palestinian” cities, and permit thousands of Palestinian Arabs to again seek employment inside sovereign Israel.

On Sunday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Sharon Washington wanted him help bolster Abbas’s leadership by providing him with tangible offerings to take back to his constituents.

She did not say what would happen if, as in the past, the gestures led to the terrorist murder of more Israeli Jews.

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