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march 27 2008

came to shove, as Arafat blew up the
peace after the Camp David summit in
2000, it was these P.A. forces who com-
mitted terrorist acts against Israelis.
Adding to that sorry tale was the fias-
co in Gaza in 2006 when Fatah thugs,
aided and equipped by foreign sources
at the specific instigation of Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice, sought to main-
tain Abbas' control of the area after the
Hainas election victory.
As detailed in an investigative
report published in the April Vanity
Fair, the concerns voiced by some
Israelis and skeptical members of
Congress over that particular venture
in bolstering Abbas were prophetic.
While Fatah goons tortured and
kidnapped some of their rivals, neither
they nor their leader Abbas had the
stomach to face down Hamas, despite
promises to do so. In the end, Abbas'
men wouldn't fight and the more pop-
ular Hamas seized control of Gaza. As
David Rose writes in Vanity Fair, "The
exact thing both Israel and the U.S.
Congress warned against came to pass
when Hamas captured most of Fatah's
arms and ammunition — including
the Egyptian guns supplied under the
covert U.S.-Arab aid program."
For 15 years, critics of such expendi-
tures have been labeled as "anti-peace,"
but that tag just served as an excuse
for whitewashes of misbehavior, first
by Arafat and now Abbas.
An anonymous U.S. official told
JTA that the 1,100 P.A. gunmen cur-
rently in Jordan, at American expense
and with Israeli permission, are being
schooled in such things as "training in
riot control, human rights, and effec-
tive arrests and defensive shooting."
But so were their predecessors.
Left unanswered in this account is
why reasonable people should think
this group will behave any differently.
The alternatives to Abbas are fright-
ful. He is both weak and probably not
much less ill-intentioned than Hamas,
but he and his loyalists are seen as a
counterforce to Iran's allies.
Should American supporters of
Israel therefore feel obligated to sup-
port the continued flow of funds to
P.A. sources?
The problem is, the peace proces-
sors have painted themselves into a
corner. Having coronated first Arafat
and now Abbas, they are forced to
ignore or suppress the truth about
them in order to maintain American
support for a two-state solution.
At the same time, Israel's govern-

ment takes the position that it needs a
Palestinian partner who at least pays
lip service to peace, as Abbas does.
And no one here wants to do any-
thing that would help create a greater
"Hamasistan."
Yet experience shows that the real-
politik strategy of propping up Fatah
has not undermined llamas, nor pro-
moted peace. Perhaps the beginning
of wisdom is the recognition that it's
time to stop reinforcing failure.
America's attempts to create a
Palestinian peace partner have failed.
No amount of money will buy us a
moderate state that will accept peace
with Israel if the Palestinians don't
want one. If the president and the
secretary of state aren't honest enough
to admit this, then perhaps it's appro-
priate to ask Congress to turn off the
spigot that sends more of our tax dol-
lars down a Palestinian drain. ❑

Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of

the Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia. His e-
mail is: jtobin@jewishexponent.com .

Gay Topics Discussed

The Jewish Gay Network of Michigan
(JGN) in partnership with PFLAG
(Parents Family, and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays), the Jewish
Community Center of Metropolitan
Detroit and Jewish Family Service, will
present a series of evenings to chat in an
atmosphere of education and support.
"Someone I Know is Gay ... Now
What?" programs take place on the
first Tuesday of every month, at 7 p.m.
at the JCC in West Bloomfield. The next
program will be 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 1.
The evening will include friendship,
discussion and refreshments. The topic
will be the nature of this group. New,
unopened packages of men's or women's
underwear will be accepted for the Ruth
Ellis Center's LGBT homeless youth.
This free program will be of interest
to anyone who wants to broaden his or
her understanding of homosexuality,
gender identity and "coming out?'
For information, visit the JGN Web
site at www.jgnmi.org or call (248)
432-5661.
The following program in the series
will take place on Tuesday, May 6:
guest speaker Rabbi Arnie Sleutelberg
from Congregation Shir Tikvah in Troy
will discuss changes in the Jewish
movements regarding Lesbian Gay
Bisexual Transgender issues.