Editor's Letter
A Palestinian Chameleon
M
uch has been written about llamas, more formally
the Islamic Resistance Movement. We know it's the
"democratically" elected leadership of the Gaza
Strip. We know the U.S. State Department has branded it a
terror organization. We know its charter calls for destroy-
ing Israel as a Jewish state. We know it recruits and deploys
suicide bombers. We know it's funded
in large part by Iran, which also funds
Lebanon-based Hezbollah.
A few weeks ago, a children's
broadcast on Hamas Television used
children's characters to teach hate
and violence. The Jerusalem-based
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) gave
this chilling account of that Feb. 11
Tomorrow's Pioneers episode:
A girl asks the Hamas rabbit: "Why
is your name Assud [lion], since you
are a rabbit?" We learn that Assud had
come from Lebanon to return to the "Palestinian homeland"
and liberate it. The rabbit responds: "A rabbit is a term for a
bad person and coward. And I, Assud, will finish off the Jews
and eat them!' The girl hostess agrees: "Allah Willing!"
This was meant for consumption by kids!
A Peacemaker?
That backdrop is why Israeli and diaspora leaders have
banked on finding a peace partner in Mahmoud Abbas, presi-
dent of the Palestinian Authority, which presides over the
larger West Bank. The biblical lands of Judea and Samaria, the
West Bank remains home to many Jewish settlements.
Western nations consider Abbas a moderate, probably
because he is quick to condemn Palestinian terror attacks
against Israelis, looks Westernized and has won the apparent
favor of President Bush. He seems to say the right things in
the company of important Western leaders.
But in chameleon-like style, Abbas quickly changes his
stripes. He's really a puppet for the anti-Zionists who control
the Palestinian people, including his Fatah Party's terrorist
wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Hamas also controls his
fate insofar as the ballyhooed two-state solution calls for one
Palestinian state consisting of the West Bank and Gaza. As far
as I can tell, Gazan leadership has a singular focus after food,
shelter, weapons and energy: Israel's destruction.
No Friend
In a Feb. 28 interview in the Jordanian newspaper Al Dustur,
Abbas stressed that the P.A. is "unable" to currently engage
Israel in combat because "we can't succeed in it:' but that he
doesn't rule it out. He said Syrian President Bashir Assad, who
is hardly objective, backed this assessment.
Does that sound like a peace seeker?
Abbas further said he was "honored" to fire the first bul-
let that Fatah unleashed on Israel in 1965 and to have taught
resistance (a euphemism for terror tactics) in Palestine
Liberation Organization camps "around the world" to such
groups as terror-monger Hezbollah. He took delight in defin-
ing resistance — "when it is beneficial and when it is not!' To
this day, Fatah considers Israel part of Palestine, just not yet
under its control.
Abbas' predecessor, Yasser Arafat, must be smiling in his
grave.
The PMW has exposed Abbas. He condemns Palestinian
terrorist attacks when addressing Israeli and Western news
media. But his actions and statements within the sanctuary
of the West Bank reflect his glaring hypocrisy. His linguistic
gymnastics are hardly new in the Jew-hating Middle East.
Appearing conciliatory with the West and inciting while amid
the Arab masses is commonplace.
What Is Real
PMW leaders Itamar Marcus and Barbara Cook serve as win-
dows through which we glimpse the truth for Israel and its
allies. It's irksome that Palestinian terrorists poorly disguised
as leaders purposely withhold basic necessities from their
own people to create the illusion that Israel is somehow the
depriver. Much of the world, especially the United Nations,
European Union and Arab League, buy this deception.
In the Al Dustur interview, Abbas said he won't demand
that Hamas recognize Israel. Many Jews might be shocked
by that, given Abbas' propensity for seeming a peace partner.
But it's not shocking. Abbas has no influence over Hamas
and would become a target were he to warm up to Israel. The
PMW reported that the only Palestinian unity government
Abbas would support would be one recognizing Israel as an
adversary.
Coming To Grips
I have mixed feelings about the U.S. placing a hold on the
Bush administration's desired disbursement of U.S. taxpayer
funds totaling $500 million to the P.A. The "funds would
provide immediate, demonstrable improvements in the lives
of Palestinians by supporting the P.A.'s efforts to extend the
rule of law, achieve economic revival, improve governance
and avoid a fiscal crisis;' the State
Department said to Congress in seeking
the aid request last October.
The Zionist Organization of America
is correct that money gifted to the P.A.,
corrupt as it is, often has been stolen
outright or channeled to terrorists.
The P.A. has laughed at all accords
since Oslo in 1993 — weak as each has
been. Abbas is powerless and afraid to
jail
terrorists, seize illegal weapons, close
Mahmoud Abbas
bomb factories or curtail the indoctrina-
tion of an entire generation to dehuman-
ize and kill Jews.
If you still have a shred of belief in the Palestinian
Authority, consider that its official newspaper, Al Hayat Al
Jadida, proclaimed Ala Abu Dhaim, 25, of East Jerusalem to
be a shahid, a holy Islamic martyr. He's the Palestinian killer
of eight students, ages 15-26, at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav in
Jerusalem on March 6.
According to the P.A.'s interpretation of Islam, shahid is the
highest status a human being can achieve today. ❑
ill d
to
Do you feel any sort of allegiance from
Mahmoud Abbas?
a. 0-
Should the U.S. disperse humanitarian
funds to the P.A.?
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March 20 2008
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