Soccer Dad

Abbas over easy

From the Wrath of Khan

Captain Terrell: Sir, I demand...
Khan: You are in a position to demand *nothing*. I, on the other hand, am in a position to *grant* nothing.

Charles Krauthammer, Last Chance for Abbas

(or here.) But let's remember who Abbas is. He appears well intentioned, but he is afflicted with near-disastrous weaknesses. He controls little. His troops in Gaza simply collapsed against the greatly outnumbered forces of Hamas. His authority in the West Bank is far from universal. He does not even control the various factions within Fatah.

Krauthammer, I think, is being too generous. Abbas was the understudy to a cutthroat. One does not survive in that role by being well intentioned. Like the claim of Khan, he is in a position to grant nothing, so why does Krauthammer insist that he have one more chance?

We have no choice but to support him. But before we give him the moon, we should insist upon reasonable benchmarks of both moderation and good governance -- exactly what we failed to do during the Oslo process. Abbas needs to demonstrate his ability to run a clean administration and to engage Israel in day-to-day negotiations to alleviate the conditions of life on the ground.

No choice? His sole qualification for any sort of consideration is that he's not Hamas. But even if Fatah isn't explicit in its ideology, its ideology is no different from that of Hamas. Michael Oren, whom Krauthammer quotes (favorably) wrote earlier this week

Though Fatah originally aspired to replace Israel with a secular, democratic state in Palestine, the organization refashioned itself in 1990s as an Islamic movement, embracing the lexicon of jihad. Hundreds of mosques were built with public funds, and imams were hired to spread the message of martyrdom and the hatred of Christians and Jews. These themes became the staple of the official PA media, inciting the suicide bombings that began in 2000 and poisoning an entire generation of Palestinian youth. Ironically, the Islamization of Fatah legitimized Hamas and contributed to the cadres of religious extremists who are now defying its authority.

In addition to its fiscal malfeasance and Islamic radicalism, Fatah has never fulfilled its pledges to crack down on terror. Though Mahmoud Abbas routinely criticizes Palestinian terrorist attacks as "contrary to the Palestinian national interest" -- not an affront to morality and international law -- he has never disavowed the al-Aqsa Brigades, a Fatah affiliate responsible for some of the bloodiest attacks against Israeli civilians.

While Krauthammer pays lip service to the idea of Fatah reform

But before we give him the moon, we should insist upon reasonable benchmarks of both moderation and good governance -- exactly what we failed to do during the Oslo process. Abbas needs to demonstrate his ability to run a clean administration and to engage Israel in day-to-day negotiations to alleviate the conditions of life on the ground.

It seems less serious than Oren's demands

Even under the most propitious circumstances this process is certain to take many years -- longer if economic aid and political support are provided to the PA unconditionally.

The problem is that Palestinian nationalism is, at its core, not a national liberation movement for Palestinians but a movement of national destruction for Israel. But like the folks of Washington did for Chauncy Gardiner the world has ascribed a quality (in this case nobility) to Palestinian nationalism that is non-existent. It was never about nation building. It was never about the the common folk, it was for the benefit of the elites.

While Bush and Rice hurry to open the sluice gates of cash to avert a humanitarian disaster, Abbas has no pressure to change. He'll get what he and his cronies need, to live comfortably.

Others who would object to Krauthammer's soft pedaling of Abbas are JoshuaPundit, Seraphic Secret, Daled Amos and Israel Matzav.

While I'm criticizing Krauthammer for his position on Abbas there's little to quibble about his characterization and prescription for Hamas.

Israel now has the opportunity to establish deterrence against unremitting rocket attacks from Gaza into Israeli villages. Israel failed to do that after it evacuated Gaza in 2005, permitting the development of an unprecedented parasitism by willingly supplying food, water, electricity and gasoline to a territory that was actively waging hostilities against it.

With Hamas now clearly in charge, Israel should declare that it will tolerate no more rocket fire -- that the next Qassam will be answered with a cutoff of gasoline shipments. This should bring road traffic in Gaza to a halt within days and make it increasingly difficult to ferry around missiles and launchers.

If that fails to concentrate the mind, the next step should be to cut off electricity. When the world wails, Israel should ask, what other country on Earth is expected to supply the very means for a declared enemy to attack it?

The one problem with this analysis is that Krauthammer considered the withdrawal from Gaza advantageous to Israel. It was highly risky and the Palestinians took advantage of the freedom Israel's withdrawal provided them. Sure Israel should have exacted a price for rockets into Israel, but Israel didn't. Israel also didn't stop Hezbollah from establishing a presence north of the border either. Better that Israel hadn't abandoned Gaza. Hopefully Israel will follow Krauthammer's advice, but it hasn't acted in accordance with his views until now, why would it start now?

UPDATE: linked at Discarded Lies.

mahmoud abbas, hamas, fatah.