Soccer Dad

Sympathy for the denier

Bob Novak deserves a lot of credit. He attempts to do what few others have attempted: to make Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) a sympathetic figure. The column would be effective too, if it stood on its own. The problem is that it also requires a short memory.

For example, Novak writes

We are ready," Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), told me. "I am the head of the Authority. I have already recognized Israel, and I am against terrorism." He thereby implied that the world should deal with him if it refuses to talk to Hamas.

That was a bold approach by a pragmatic statesman often accused of excessive caution. He was suggesting there is no need for Israel and its Western allies to deal with the PA's new Hamas government, which has refused to recognize Israel and forswear violence.

Against terrorism? Where have I heard that before? A quick search links me to Curtis Bowman who quotes Charles Krauthammer in Arafat's Heir

Dec. 30: Abbas, appearing in Jenin, is hoisted on the shoulders of Zakaria Zbeida, a notorious and wanted al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorist. Abbas declares that he will protect all terrorists from Israel.

Dec. 31: Abbas reiterates his undying loyalty to Arafat's maximalist demands: complete Israeli withdrawal to the 1949 armistice lines, Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital and -- the red-flag deal-breaker -- the "right of return," which would send the millions of Palestinians abroad not to their own country of Palestine but to Israel in order to destroy it demographically.

Jan. 1: Abbas declares that he will never crack down on Palestinian terrorism.

Jan. 4: Abbas calls Israel "the Zionist enemy." That phrase is so odious that only Hezbollah and Iran and others openly dedicated to the extermination of Israel use it.

I realize that these statements and actions are a little more than a year old. But I recently read of him using the term Zionist enemy again. There's no reason to assume that he's moderated at all. Sure he's against terror because it hurts the PA politically (and it helps the PA politically for him to declare such) but it isn't out of any sense of pacifism or justice as Novak would want us to believe.

And then towards the end of the article there's this unbelievable

Asked who was going bail out the Palestinian Authority, President Abbas answered quickly: "Nobody but the Americans." He also would like to see President Bush press Israel to return to the peace process and abandon unilateralism. But nobody here believes that is going to happen, which accounts for a pervasive sadness in the holy city of Jerusalem as the three great monotheistic religions celebrate sacred festivals.

Yes the Americans that the PA has so carefully cultivated

American policy is fascist and caused Arab extremism

"The extremism in Arab societies is an outcome of American policy. Whoever wants to spread Democracy must be democratic in one's actions and policy. Washington cannot be democratic in the media and Fascist in its dealing with the affairs of peoples...

"Washington has its own agenda and distinct domineering and imperialistic aspirations. The service of Democracy is not among them, but the service of monopolistic companies and allied totalitarian regimes."
[Hafez Barghuthi, editor-in-chief of PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 8, 2006]

The PA depends on America but at the same time shows nothing but contempt for America. It makes no sense.

But I wouldn't expect Bob Novak to mention this. To him there's no greater problem in the Middle East than Israel's refusal to deal with a government that openly objects to its existence.

Technorati tags: Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority, Israel.

Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.