By Ryan Jones
May 22, 2006
PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas is irrelevant to the Israel-Arab "peace" process because he is unable to meet even the most basic of "Palestinian" commitments, said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in an interview on CNN Sunday.
Abbas "is powerless. He is helpless. He's unable to even stop the minimal terror activities amongst the Palestinians."
The "land-for-peace" process is based on the PLO's commitment to curb anti-Jewish terrorism in return for Israeli territorial concessions. But although Israel has relinquished control over those areas where more than 90 percent of Palestinian Arabs live, terrorism against the Jewish state has only increased.
Abbas, like Yasser Arafat before him, has declared his "inability" to control the rampant Jew-hatred that the PLO's education system has incited.
Asked Olmert:
"So how can he represent that government in the most crucial, complex and sensitive negotiations?"
The Israeli leader has used the lack of a viable peace partner created by Abbas' impotence to defend his "convergence" plan.
Because there is no one on the "Palestinian" side with whom to negotiate a true peace agreement, Olmert will unilaterally surrender roughly 90 percent of the lands demanded by the Arabs.