The problem with Mahmoud Abbas - By Jeff Jacoby

[editor]

The problem with Mahmoud Abbas

By Jeff Jacoby
The Boston Globe
January 9, 2005

THE OUTCOME of today's election for president of the Palestinian Authority was never in doubt. Mahmoud Abbas, Yasser Arafat's longtime accomplice -- the two men co-founded Fatah, the largest terrorist faction within the PLO, in 1965 -- was always going to win in a landslide. The three other candidates were never going to get more than a sliver of the vote. That they got any votes at all was impressive, given the virtual news blackout on their campaigns by the Fatah-controlled Palestinian media and the bullying of anyone tempted to support them. The New York Sun described some of the arm-twisting on Dec. 31:

"One of the reasons none of the three candidates has received much support is intimidation by the PA. `People are afraid to be seen even reading their campaign literature,' says one Palestinian. . . . The message that the people have received from various leaders of the PA is that if they vote for a candidate other than Mr. Abbas, they will either lose jobs they already have in the PA or will not be hired by the PA in the future. Since the PA is the largest employer in the West Bank and Gaza, the threat carries a great deal of weight.

"Physical intimidation has also played a role. . . . On Wednesday, shots were fired at [candidate Bassam el] Salhi's offices in Ramallah ."

Surely this isn't what President Bush had in mind when he said, in his seminal June 2002 address on the Arab-Israeli war, that the United States would support the creation of a Palestinian state if the Palestinians would first "build a practicing democracy, based on tolerance and liberty." Nor can Abbas, who spent decades at Arafat's side and who has been unyielding in his refusal to crack down on Palestinian gunmen and bombers, be what Bush meant when he insisted that Palestinians "elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror." So why has the administration bent over backward to support the election and given its blessing to Abbas?

Read more:
http://www.boston.com/news/glo.....oud_abbas/

What do you think?

[Starman3000m]

The first order for Mahmoud Abbas to implement is to declare the original PLO Charter null and void, especially the Articles that call for the extermination of Jewish culture; in particular, Article 22. ie:

PLO Goals

Article (12) Complete liberation of Palestine, and eradication of Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence.
Article (13) Establishing an independent democratic state with complete sovereignty on all Palestinian lands, and Jerusalem is its capital city, and protecting the citizens' legal and equal rights without any racial or religious discrimination.
Article (14) Setting up a progressive society that warrants people's rights and their public freedom.
Article (15) Active participation in achieving the Arab Nation's goals in liberation and building an independent, progressive and united Arab society.
Article (16) Backing up all oppressed people in their struggle for liberation and self-determination in order to build a just, international peace.

Method

Article (17) Armed public revolution is the inevitable method to liberating Palestine.
Article (18 ) Entire dependence on the Palestinian people which is the pedestal forefront and on the Arab Nation as a partner in the fight, and realising actual interaction between the Arab Nation and the Palestinian people by involving the Arab people in the fight through a united Arab front.
Article (19) Armed struggle is a strategy and not a tactic, and the Palestinian Arab People's armed revolution is a decisive factor in the liberation fight and in uprooting the Zionist existence, and this struggle will not cease unless the Zionist state is demolished and Palestine is completely liberated.
Article (20) Achieving mutual understanding with all the national forces participating in the armed struggle to attain the national unity.
Article (21) Revealing the revolutionary nature of the Palestinian identity at the international level, and this does not contradict the everlasting unity between the Arab Nation and the Palestinian people.
Article (22) Opposing any political solution offered as an alternative to demolishing the Zionist occupation in Palestine, as well as any project intended to liquidate the Palestinian case or impose any international mandate on its people.
Article (23) Maintaining relations with Arab countries with the objective of developing the positive aspects in their attitudes with the proviso that the armed struggle is not negatively affected.
Article (24) Maintaining relations with all liberal forces supporting our just struggle in order to resist together Zionism and imperialism.
Article (25) Convincing concerned countries in the world to prevent Jewish immigration to Palestine as a method of solving the problem.
Article (26) Avoiding attempts to exploit the Palestinian case in any Arab or international problems and considering the case above all contentions.
Article (27) "FATEH" does not interfere with local Arab affairs and hence, does not tolerate such interference or obstructing its struggle by any party.
http://www.fateh.net/e_public/constitution.htm

Unless Mahmoud Abbas declares such anti-Semitic Articles null and void and establishes a completely new Charter for his Palestinian administration, he is no different than Yasser Arafat and is no real seeker of "Peace with Israel."

Time will tell as of this date: 01-10-05

[Starman3000m]

To Reiterate:

Until Mahmoud Abbas abolishes the present PLO Charter by declaring its anti-Semitic Articles null and void and establishes a completely new Charter for his Palestinian administration, he is no different than Yasser Arafat and is no real seeker of "Peace with Israel."

Time will tell as of this date: 01-10-05

[Starman3000m]

[david barrett]

[Starman3000m]

[david barrett]

Starman
You are going to give us a rest for a whole 2 months WOW

[Starman3000m]

[david barrett]

In addition to the above this may clarify the picture somewhat as to what sort of a leader we have instead of Arafat

Don't get your hopes up

http://www.honestreporting.com/>

http://www.honestreporting.com/>
Communique: 10 January
2005
http://www.honestreporting.com.....President_
Abbas_-_A_New_Age$.asp>[View
this article online]

http://backspin.typepad.com/ba.....s.html>
http://backspin.typepad.com/ba.....t;[Discuss this topic on BackSpin]

PRESIDENT ABBAS - A NEW AGE?


Dear HonestReporting Subscriber,

Abbas and his wife Amina on election day

http://story.news.yahoo.com/ne.....hotos_wl/r 1612517949.jpg>Reuters)

There's an optimistic mood in the region and in the media following
yesterday's election of Mahmoud Abbas (a.k.a. Abu Mazen) as president
of the Palestinian Authority.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6775311/>Associated Press hailed 'the
promise of a new era,'
http://www.philly.com/mld/phil...../10598793.
htm>Philadelphia Inquirer saw 'a precious opportunity,' and
http://www.chicagotribune.com/.....2jan10,1,2
253442.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=2&cset=true>Chicago
Tribune described 'a mandate for reform, Mideast peace.'

While everyone hopes progress will indeed occur, HonestReporting is
concerned that many media outlets have been carried away by the
optimism and begun engaging in unhelpful wishful thinking. Consider two
themes that characterized media coverage of this election: Abbas'
opposition to Palestinian terror, and the emerging Palestinian democracy.

1) OPPOSITION TO TERROR

Journalists have continually labeled Abbas a 'moderate' and 'a strong
and courageous opponent of violence'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....5Jan7.html Washington Post, and Abbas has made some statements to that effect.

Yet Abbas' campaign has also brought the accuracy of these media labels
into question:

His appearing
http://backspin.typepad.com/.s.....tegorized/
abumazenzubeidi123004.jpg>on
the shoulders of wanted terrorists,
His
http://www.usatoday.com/news/w.....denouncing 'the Zionist enemy,'
His
http://abcnews.go.com/Internat.....=OTC-RSSFe
eds0312>promising a mass Palestinian 'right of return' to Israel, and
As <http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART/851/572.html>reported in the
London-based daily Al-Quds al-Arabi, his funneling of at least
$100,000 to wanted terrorists during the campaign.




Mike Keefe on the two faces of Abu Mazen
http://www.denverpost.com/Stor.....0.html>
Denver Post) One should also recall that this is the same Mahmoud Abbas
whose doctoral thesis denied the Holocaust and which was published as
the book, The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism. This is the same Abbas who speaks of all of Israel as Palestine: 'What applies to Jerusalem also applies to Hebron, Nablus, Galilee...' (Al-Ittahad, May 30, 1999).
And this is the same Abbas who, according to Abu Daoud (organizer of
the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre), was the paymaster for that terrorist plot.
Boston Globe's
http://www.boston.com/news/glo.....cles/2005/
01/09/the_problem_with_mahmoud_abbas/>Jeff
http://www.boston.com/news/glo.....cles/2005/
01/09/the_problem_with_mahmoud_abbas/>Jacoby
warns:

Again and again, Abbas has expressed his solidarity with violent
extremists. Last month he traveled to Damascus to meet with some of the
region's most implacable terror groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad,
and the Popular Front For the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.
Afterward, Abbas's "foreign minister," Nabil Sha'ath, declared that
between the Palestinian Authority and the other groups, "there are no
differences over the objectives."

In his victory speech last night, Abbas said:

The small jihad, which was the armed struggle, has ended, and now
begins the large jihad, which will be the establishment of an
independent Palestinian state and the building of our homeland. I
present this victory to the soul of Yasser Arafat and present it to our people and to our martyrs.

'The large jihad'? Dedicating victory 'to the martyrs'? This doesn't
sound like 'moderate' rhetoric. And during the campaign, Abbas
questioned only the efficacy but not the morality of terror attacks on Israeli civilians.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....5Jan6.html Charles Krauthammer reminds us of the power of words in this conflict:

What of Abbas's vaunted opposition to violence? On Jan. 2 he tells
Hamas terrorists firing rockets that maim and kill Jewish villagers
within Israel, "This is not the time for this kind of act." This is an
interesting "renunciation" of terrorism: Not today, boys; perhaps
later, when the time is right. Which was exactly Arafat's utilitarian
approach to terrorism throughout the Oslo decade...

Have we learned nothing? In the Middle East, words are actions. Never
more so than in an election campaign in which your words define your
platform and establish your mandate. Abbas is running practically
unopposed, and yet, on the question of both ends and means, he chooses
to run as Yasser Arafat.

HonestReporting urges subscribers to monitor both the stated policies
of the new Palestinian leader and his representation in the media, lest
the two drift too far apart.




Senator John Kerry, an election observer, passes a Palestinian
policeman
http://story.news.yahoo.com/ne.....rl11601091
144>AP)
2) PALESTINIAN DEMOCRACY

While yesterday's election was hailed as democratic and accepted as
legitimate by the Israeli government, there remains some concern on
this matter. The <http://www.nysun.com/article/7024>New York Sun (Dec.
31) reported that Abbas' opponents didn't exactly get a fair shake the
PA-controlled press allowed almost no coverage of their campaigns, and
people were afraid to be seen even reading their campaign literature. Moreover:

The message that the people have received from various leaders of the
PA is that if they vote for a candidate other than Mr. Abbas they will
either lose jobs they already have in the PA or will not be hired by
the PA in the future. Since the PA is the largest employer in the West
Bank and Gaza, the threat carries a great deal of weight.

Looking forward, Abbas must work to dismantle this culture of
intimidation and create the essential structures of democratic society
a free press, accountability of elected officials, and due process of
law. These are essential elements for progress toward a lasting peace with Israel.

Today, President Bush extended an offer to meet Abbas at the White House.
Bush's press secretary
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news.....208.html#3 Scott McClellan clarified the terms for real progress toward
Israeli-Palestinian peace:

The Palestinian leadership has responsibility to move forward on
putting in place a unified security force that is committed to fighting terrorism.
And they have a responsibility to put in place reforms that will lead
to democratic institutions.




Tallying the vote in Gaza City
(<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?g=events/wl/080601mideast&a=&tmpl=sl
&ns=&l=1&e=53&a=0&printer=>AFP)

Yet <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/09/magazine/09WWLN.html>The New York Times, the
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/.....tar/Layout
/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1105225817538&call_pageid=970599109774&col
=Columnist969907621513>Toronto Star, the
http://www.chicagotribune.com/.....52jan07,1,
2260337.story?coll=chi-newsopinioncommentary-hed>ChicagoTribune, and
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lead.....tml>The
(UK) Guardian all published columns 'lowering the bar' on essential
Palestinian democratic reform, arguing that that Israel and the US
should immediately deal with even a non-democratic Palestinian leadership.

But the Arafat era taught us nothing if not the fallacy of building a
peace edifice without a foundation. At this critical juncture,
HonestReporting subscribers must not allow the media to advance wishful
thinking at the expense of a process that leads to a genuine, lasting
peace in the region.

Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media
bias.

HonestReporting




This communique was dedicated in loving memory of Joan Roslyn from Fred Roslyn, Beth & Paul White, Ilene & Mordy Levy, Lisa & Steve Fialkoff
and families.

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mailto:action@honestreporting.com>action@honestreporting.com.
Contact our <mailto:levitz@honestreporting.com?subject=HR's Community Initiatives Department>Community Initiatives Department to find out how you can ensure Israel receives fair media coverage in your community.

Screen HonestReporting's documentary film
http://www.honestreporting.com/relentless/>"Relentless: The Struggle For Peace in Israel"

Encourage your friends to join HonestReporting by sending a
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[Starman3000m]

David, the first four internet sites "were not found" but the others give a good picture of the present situation.

Regarding Mahmoud Abbas aka Abu Mazen, it unfortunately appears that he will be following in the footsteps of Yasser Arafat; unable to control the Islamic terror organizations.

As stated before, his first priority of business should be to abolish the PLO Charter that specifically calls for the eradication of the Jewish people and their culture. Until that happens, his call for a halt to terror is meaningless.
How can Mahmoud Abbas ask other Islamic terror organizations to halt when his own organization (PLO) has a mission statement that incites terror?

It appears that we are at the crossroads of an apocalyptic era where Muslims sincerely believe they are to usher in the age of al-Mahdi; Judaism prepares for rebuilding the Third Temple and awaits Moshiach, and Christianity (a Jewish sect) expects the rise of anti-Christ and a One World Order prior to the return of Y'shua as Moshiach.

We shall see.

[david barrett]

Try again

http://www.honestreporting.com/>
>[]
http://www.honestreporting.com/>
>
> Communique: 10 January
> 2005
http://www.honestreporting.com.....President_
> Abbas_-_A_New_Age$.asp>[View
> this article online]
>
http://backspin.typepad.com/ba.....s.html>
http://backspin.typepad.com/ba.....ml>[Dis
>cuss
> this topic on BackSpin]
>

[Starman3000m]