Soccer Dad

Siding with the times

The New York Times

For Washington and Jerusalem to exert constructive influence in this dangerous situation, they urgently need to adopt a new and wiser approach to Palestinian politics. That means doing more to help Mr. Abbas in the only currency that really counts, easing the lives of ordinary Palestinians.

That should include a total freeze on settlement building and expansion, a prompt easing of the onerous, humiliating and economically strangulating blockades on Palestinian movements within the West Bank, and the swift release to Mr. Abbas’s office of all tax revenues rightfully belonging to the Palestinians but still in Israeli hands.

It should also include an offer of regular, substantive talks with Mr. Abbas on issues related to a final peace settlement, like borders and provisions assuring the economic viability of an eventual Palestinian state. Obviously, there can be no final peace agreement until Hamas either changes its policies or is chased from power. But excluding Palestinian statehood from the negotiating agenda can only help Hamas.

Secretary of State Dr. Condoleeza Rice

This morning President Bush spoke with Palestinian Authority President Abbas. He told him that the United States supports his legitimate decision to form an emergency government of responsible Palestinians, and he welcomed the appointment of Salam Fayyad as Prime Minister. The President pledged the full support of the United States for the new Palestinian Government.

I delivered this same message this morning in a phone call to Prime Minister Fayyad. I congratulated him on his new post, and I told him that the United States would resume full assistance to the Palestinian Government and normal government-to-government contacts. I told the Prime Minister that we want to work with his government and support his efforts to enforce the rule of law and to ensure a better life for the Palestinian people.

A fundamental choice confronts the Palestinians, and all people in the Middle East, more clearly now, than ever. It is a choice between violent extremism on the one hand and tolerance and responsibility on the other. Hamas has made its choice. It has sought to attempt to extinguish democratic debate with violence and to impose its extremist agenda on the Palestinian people in Gaza. Now, responsible Palestinians are making their choice and it is the duty of the international community to support those Palestinians who wish to build a better life and a future of peace.

I have worked -- I am working with my Quartet colleagues on ways that the international community can deliver support to the new Palestinian Government. In the meantime, the United States is taking some immediate actions of its own. We intend to lift our financial restrictions on the Palestinian Government, which has accepted previous agreements with Israel and rejects the path of violence. This will enable the American people and American financial institutions to resume normal economic and commercial ties with the Palestinian Government.

We are also reviewing our democracy and development assistance to help the new government build institutions and infrastructure that will improve life for Palestinians that will provide essential services, better roads, and clean drinking water to people in need. We had previously identified up to $86 million to support President Abbas's efforts to build responsible security forces. Now, in light of the new Palestinian Government, we will be working with Congress to restructure that assistance so that it can be used effectively.

There are several key policy conclusions to be drawn from the Hamas triumph. First, Western and especially U.S. policy must get beyond an obsession with solving this conflict. It is going to go on for decades. Peace plans will go nowhere; Hamas will not be persuaded to moderate--why should it when it expects victor at home and appeasement from Europe? Hamas is the enemy, just as much as al-Qaida, a part of the radical Islamist effort to seize control of the region, overthrow anything even vaguely moderate, and the expulsion of any Western influence.

Second, since Palestinian politics have clearly returned to the pre-1993 era, so must Western and U.S. policy. This means no Western aid and no diplomatic support for the Palestinians until their leaders change policies. The Palestinian movement can only earn financial help and political backing on that very distant day when it accepts Israel's right to exist, stops endorsing and using terrorism, and is serious about negotiating a real, compromise two-state solution.

Third, it is time to support Israel proudly and fully. Now that it is clear Israel has done everything possible for peace--taking great risks in doing so--and has no such alternative, the rationale for Israel's behavior must be vindicated. The idea that even-handed, confidence-building behavior can broker peace is simply and fully, though regrettably, dead.

Elder of Ziyon

American officials have asked the U.S. Congress to restore funding that was to beef up weapons, ammunition and other materiel for Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Force 17 personal militia last year.

The reason: Fatah lost a massive amount of military supplies when its Gaza forces were vanquished by Hamas last week in the PA civil war.

A PA official warned during the Hamas takeover that the terrorist faction had succeeded in grabbing “thousands of rifles, large amounts of ammunition and dozens of vehicles,” including armored jeeps and armored personnel carriers supplied by the U.S., Egypt and Israel. “This is really bad news for all,” he said.

I'm not yet at the point of saying that I miss Albright, I don't. In addition to boosting Arafat she also undermined Netanyahu. Rice might be boosting Abbas, but she's working in concert with the Olmert government. But when the Bush administration's policy is closer to that of the NY Times editorial page than it is to Barry Rubin, there's something terribly wrong.