By Stan Goodenough
Jul 25, 2005
Apparently, visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanded to know from Israeli officials this weekend why the Sharon government was criticizing Mahmoud Abbas while his ?Preventive Security Forces? were being shot at by Hamas.
Her implication: Can?t you see the man is seriously trying to assert control in Gaza? It is in Israel?s interest, especially with the looming ?disengagement,? that this ?moderate? and ?elected? Arab leader be supported in his efforts.
Her admitted fear: Hamas looks increasingly like taking over control of the Strip. Where will that leave the US-led initiative for a two-state solution when, as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned her after more Jews were murdered by Arab killers at the weekend, Israel?s response to future terrorism from Gaza would escalate dramatically?
There is no question that a number of Arabs have killed one another as Abbas has tried to impress the US with his determination to exert control over the ?opposition forces.?
There is also no question that it is vital to the Arab strategy for securing the establishment of a Palestinian state on Jewish land that the US continue to support the notion that Abbas is the ?moderate? while Hamas and co. are the ?enemies of peace.?
This illusion worked wonders for Abbas?s revered predecessor, Yasser Arafat.
For years, as the disastrous Oslo Process inflicted growing casualties on the people of Israel, (and, as a consequence, on the Palestinian Arabs) Arafat worked at perfecting a division of labor between the PA, which he headed, and Hamas and other Islamic groups, which he controlled.
Israeli and US intelligence services have confirmed Arafat?s personal oversight of this policy: He would negotiate with Israel for as long as he could receive concessions. When Israel stalled, he would give a green light to the terror groups to attack, personally paying them to carry out their ?operations,? knowing that international pressure would subsequently mount on Israel not to ?give in to the terrorists,? but to return to negotiations with the PA.
It was an approach that saw Israel taking great ?risks for peace? that only led to further funerals for Jewish victims of Arab terrorism.
After September 2000, Arafat?s own Tanzim and Fatah Hawks were at the forefront of this terrorism which, at the acknowledgment of his own officials, Arafat unleashed.
That wave of seemingly unending violence (which continues unabated, as witnessed this weekend) has seen over 25,000 Arab attacks on Israel?s Jews which have left 1,050 people dead and over 5,500 wounded and maimed.
Individually and collectively, Rice?s demands, if met, will further weaken Israel?s damaged security, which has been eroded by the political actions of successive US administrations at least since 1991.
Analysts believe that Washington views this ?disengagement? as its best bet for ensuring the eventual implementation of President George W. Bush?s ?personal commitment? to overseeing the creation of a Palestinian state during his second term.
The US also believes that a successful transfer of Gaza out of Israel?s control would boost the American effort to sow the seeds of a democratic culture in the Arab world.
What a waste of two presidential terms both these goals look set to be. For decades, the Arab side has remained unyielding in its purpose to destroy Israel by carrying out its two-stage strategy, using diplomacy and then terrorism to forge ahead.
As for its dreams for the Arab world, Washington?s realists and pragmatists will first have to concede the truth: Democracy and Islam are oil and water; Islam has to be bound before democracy can take root.
There is no sign anywhere above the horizon of such an awareness even dawning in the United States. And while, from their comfort zones and portals of power, American officialdom doggedly pursues these policies that cannot work, Hamas and the PA continue to collaborate, and Israelis and others in the Middle East continue to pay ? with their lives.