By Ryan Jones
Sep 22, 2005
A US congressional hearing Wednesday harshly criticized the regime of PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas, and took the Bush Administration to task for tolerating an entity that repeatedly fails to honor its commitments and shows no signs of desiring true peace.
US Assistant Secretary of State David Welch opened the hearing by telling the House International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia that the days following Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip have been less than encouraging.
?Although President Mahmoud Abbas has taken some steps to assert control, overall Palestinian Authority performance to date has been far from satisfactory,? Welch said. ?The PA must move quickly to establish order and take steps to dismantle the infrastructure of terror.?
The chair, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, had a more severe outlook on the situation.
While the Israelis made a significant ?sacrifice...for the sake of peace,? Ros-Lehtinen pointed out, ?Lawlessness within the Gaza Strip and continued attacks against Israel has characterized the Palestinian response to disengagement.?
?In addition, by torching the synagogues and storming the [Gaza-Egypt border], they are not only signaling that they do not intend to behave responsibly, but that they may transform Gaza into a major security threat.?
Ros-Lehtinen said the ?spotlight has now clearly shifted to the Palestinian Authority, which must now show that it can effectively and successfully govern Gaza.?
Failure to do so, she warned, ?will undermine any hopes for progress toward peace? and an independent Palestinian Arab state.
Congressman Gary Ackerman urged his colleagues to ?get honest? about the matter at hand, and then led by example.
?On good days, the Palestinian Authority is rife with corruption and riddled with political hacks and thugs,? the congressman said. ?It vacillates, caves and pretends that appeasement is the highest of political virtues.?
?Yet this is the horse we are betting on!? an incredulous Ackerman exclaimed.
He criticized the Bush Administration for dealing with the PA with kid gloves, noting, ?They never deliver anything, and that is because they have come to the conclusion we are a bunch of paper tigers.?
Congressman Thaddeus McCotter asked Welch how the State Department can condone the participation of Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization, in the upcoming PA parliamentary elections in January.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday urged Israel to drop its objection to Hamas' election bid, saying, ?I think we have to give the Palestinians some room for the evolution of their political process.?