By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Mar 02, 2005
While the participants of this week’s London Conference on Palestinian Authority reforms condemned in passing anti-Jewish terrorism, they enthusiastically spoke of the coming birth of Palestine and insisted Israel facilitate that event.
PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas told reporters following the summit that he wanted to establish an Arab state on the ancient Jewish lands of Judea, Samaria and Gaza “as soon as possible.”
British officials said they did not understand why Israel could not assist in making that vision a reality prior to the elimination of “Palestinian” terrorism.
Israel had hoped the conference would remain focused on PA reforms, particularly in the areas of security, law and order.
An official PA mouthpiece claimed the “Palestinians” had scored a victory by politicizing the affair and turning it into a platform from which to hit Israel with more international pressure.
Glossing over terror
Reports prior to the start of the London Conference Tuesday indicated its closing statement would be devoid of any reference to “Palestinian” anti-Jewish terrorism.
In the end, that statement, and the public speeches of the summit’s primary participants, began with a brief condemnation of last Friday’s Tel Aviv nightclub bombing, in which the lives of five Israelis were snuffed out by Palestinian Arab killers.
Even that minimal acknowledgement of the pain and suffering caused Israel’s Jews by unrelenting terrorism had made the Palestinian Arabs “very upset,” an unnamed PA official was quoted by Ha’aretz as saying.
Only US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took the issue one step further, calling on Abbas’s PA to bring those responsible to justice and dismantle the terrorist infrastructure that nurtured them.
“The roadmap to peace correctly stated that terrorist organizations must be dismantled if our common goals are to be achieved,” she said.
Pining for Palestine
But even Rice could not hide her enthusiasm with the prospect of soon witnessing the establishment of an Islamic Arab state on Israel’s biblical heartland.
“Ramallah is buzzing these days with vigorous debates and even the occasional
shouting match. These are the sounds of democracy,” she asserted. “The Palestinian people are writing the opening chapter of a more hopeful national story.”
[ Ed. Note – While Ramallah is abuzz with “democratic” squabbling, PA courts continue to sentence to death any Arab who dares fulfill the spirit of the Oslo Accords by helping Israel combat “Palestinian” terror. ]
Rice insisted that while Israel implements its plan to quit Gaza, it must refrain from taking any steps that would upset the Arabs.
“Israel must…take no actions that prejudice a final settlement,” the secretary stated.
Following the summit, Abbas said he was filled with hope that the “dream” of Palestine would be realized very soon.
“Now we are talking about a new era of peace and hope,” Yasser Arafat’s longtime deputy said.
He vowed to “continue to work” for the realization of Palestine “as soon as possible.”
PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said if Washington really wanted to help, it should force Israel back to the “negotiating table within six months to a year to start final status negotiations.”
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Sunday there would be no diplomatic progress until the PA fulfilled its decade-old commitment to root out “Palestinian” terror.
Putting the ball in Israel’s court
Ha’aretz reported, however, that senior British officials “did not accept Sharon's position” that the PA must first fight terror before Israel takes steps beyond the Gaza withdrawal.
London maintains that Israel must also freeze all construction in established settlements and demolish all so-called “illegal” outposts in accordance with its Road Map phase one obligations.
And there is no reason this can’t be done prior to a cessation of Palestinian Arab attempts to mass murder Israeli men, women and children, the British sources said.
In an apparent jab at Sharon, EU President Jean Asselborn said, “the security objective does not by itself allow for a secure peace.”
“To achieve this objective, all parties must implement without delay the Road Map,” Asselborn said.
Advantage:PA
An official PA mouthpiece, the International Press Center, said Wednesday that the “Palestinians” had “won” the summit by managing to politicize it and educe international pressure on Israel.
“Israeli diplomacy lost the London Conference yesterday when the United States warned [Jerusalem] against sabotaging efforts for peace and disrupting a contiguous Palestinian state,” the IPC reported.
Israel disappointed
Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel was disappointed by the summit’s failure to more adequately address the scourge of “Palestinian” terror and the PA’s refusal to eradicate it.
“The declarations [made in London] do not represent a serious effort in the fight against terrorism,” Olmert told Israel Radio.
“Words in London must correspond to some sort of reality here,” Olmert said. "The fact is that terrorism is continuing, and we have yet to see any genuine effort by the Palestinian leadership, and this is certainly worrisome and cannot be ignored.”