U.S. to the Palestinians: Dismantle the Terrorist Groups Now
July 16, 2003

Palestinian politics are a murky affair to outsiders because of the nature of the Palestinian Authority. Appointments are made, positions are created, and power is bestowed not through established processes but by fiat, intimidation and patronage. The fight last week between Yasir Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas – which reportedly included some unfriendly name-calling – left many wondering. What happened? What was said? Will Abbas resign? It’s always hard to penetrate the workings of dictatorships -- just like Kremlinologists and Sinologists study the seating patterns of Party officials at parades in order to discern who’s who, we squint and wonder: just what is Arafat up to?

Arafat is meddling big-time, undermining Abbas, and doesn’t like being out of the spotlight. I’m convinced as long as Arafat’s in charge, there can’t be peace. This is guy that still goes around saying, “Jerusalem is not a Jewish city, despite the myth planted in some minds,” and that the Western Wall is actually a “Muslim shrine.” He’s an incorrigible double-dealer who talks peace to Western media and jihad to the home crowd. Many doubt, and I share in that doubt, that Arafat has ever come to terms with Israel’s existence. Arafat needs to isolated, like the U.S. and Israel have done – not coddled like naïve European countries are doing.

The problem remains that Palestinian terrorists groups continue to be armed and dangerous. The cease-fire is important, but disarmament is what the road map requires, and nothing less. Cease-fires, though welcome, can also be exploited, a tactic in which these groups excel. Witness how Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Brigages recently declared a unilateral cease-fire, to which Israel was not party. Then as a goodwill gesture and nothing more Israel released a number of Palestinian prisoners – noting the road map has no such requirement that Israel do so. Immediately, the Palestinian groups began clamoring for the release of all prisoners, many of whom are tried-and-true terrorists with blood on their hands, saying that refusal to do so threatens the cease-fire.

Israel’s concern is security, and this concern will be not lessened until these groups are dismantled – which, again, is what the road map unequivocally demands. Spokespeople for the President and the State Department continue to reiterate this point. Besides, Islamic Jihad violated the cease-fire less than twenty-four hours after is took effect, and just today an Al-Aqsa man knifed to death a pedestrian in Tel Aviv. So far, while acknowledging that the PA security capabilities have been weakened by Israeli helicopters, Abbas doesn’t seem to be doing all that much. He arrested four militants, maybe a few others we haven’t heard about, but what about the other couple hundred? Israel’s responsibility is to withdraw troops, and the PA’s is to uproot the terrorist groups. Palestinians go first, and then Israel.



Read "A Shot at Peace: Can the U.S. Enforce the Road Map," by Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, from the New York Post, July 8, 2003.