By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Feb 26, 2005
As predicted, PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas’s temporary terrorist ceasefire ended in an orgy of blood and death for Israeli Jews when a “Palestinian” homicide bomber attacked a Tel Aviv nightclub Friday night.
Four people were killed and 50 others wounded in the bombing.
Last month, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom warned that Abbas’s insistence on taking a conciliatory approach to the terror groups, rather than dismantling them as required by the Road Map, was “a ticking bomb which will blow up” in Israel’s face.
It is unlikely Friday’s “suicide” bomber, 21-year-old Abdullah Badran, would have been able to carry out this latest atrocity had the PA honored its peace obligations to jail his terrorist handlers and disarm those dedicated to Israel’s eradication.
Both the Islamic Jihad and Fatah’s Al Aqsa Brigades claimed credit for the bombing.
Ignoring Shalom’s warning, Israel has responded to Abbas’s ceasefire efforts by halting all military action against the terror groups, and even granting amnesty to known and wanted terrorists so long as they promised to remain in PA-controlled cities.
Over the past decade, it has become a recurring phenomenon that trusting Israel’s security to the PA results in dead Israeli Jews.
Following the attack, Abbas vowed to pursue those responsible, but refused to alter his policy of negotiating with, rather than combating, the terrorist organizations.
Abbas’s regime is scheduled to hold high-level talks with leaders of the terror groups in Cairo on March 5.
A senior PA official said Friday that the focus of the talks would not be on hammering out a formal cessation of hostilities against Israel, Ha'aretz reported. Rather, the official said, the terror bosses and their patron Abbas would discuss how best to wait and see if Israel meets all their demands.