Both Prime Ministers Meet with Bush: where we are now
July 29, 2003

In advance of his meeting with President Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Sharon took a number of important steps to signal his willingness to aid to his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, and to make concessions to progress the road map. Abbas met with Bush over the weekend with his demands, including an end to the construction of the fence, the mass release of Palestinian prisoners and an end to Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. Sharon released a few hundred additional prisoners in the last two days – a reversal of earlier policy – and has removed ten West Bank checkpoints to ease Palestinian movement.

A sticking point is the security fence, which Abbas doesn’t like and Bush finds problematic. Unfortunately, there’s not much that can be done; the logic is simply unassailable: the fence prevents terrorists from getting into Israel, and the experience with Gaza and every other border demonstrates its reliability. The fence can come down, or be readjusted, but first there has to be another development, the most important one of all.

On this all-important development, the road map makes it crystal clear: “Palestinians [must] declare an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism and undertake visible efforts on the ground to arrest, disrupt, and restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere...[the Palestinian Authority must begin] sustained, targeted and effective operations aimed at confronting al those engaged in terror and dismantlement of terrorist capabilities and infrastructure. This includes commencing confiscation of illegal weapons and consolidation of security authority, free of association with terror and corruption.”

Some steps have been taken, but not many. Fair enough, for now: both Bush and Sharon understand well that this takes time, and that it must be done delicately (just like Israel is supposed to dismantle all settlement outposts, which it hasn’t yet). For this reason, Sharon is making prisoner concessions (not mentioned in the road map, which can be found here), and the United States is sending $20 million Abbas’ way.

But while he’s getting time now, Abbas must eventually make progress on this, because terrorism is, as Bush correctly said, “the fundamental obstacle to peace." Negotiations cannot work if there are more than three parties involved (U.S., Israel, PA) -- Abbas could make a policy decision that the terrorist groups wouldn’t adhere to, or at any time, Hamas could decide to re-start the violence. As long as the terror groups are armed and operational, any progress will be held at mercy of their will. Cease-fire always fall apart if parties other than those negotiating are free to make their own decisions, because guarantees cease to be guarantees, and trust dissolves.

Another problem: the road map demands that “Arab states cut off public and private funding and all other forms support for groups supporting and engaging in violence and terror.” So why does Hamas – the biggest obstacle to peace -- receive 70 percent of its budget from Saudi Arabia? If Hamas doesn’t get money, it can’t operate, so why is Saudi Arabia funding them? Could it be that they don’t want peace? I recently found out that before he became Prime Minister, Abbas himself send a hand-written letter to Saudi Arabia, demanding that they stop funding Hamas. No wonder that are not one, but three books out now (one by Dore Gold, called Hatred's Kingdom, a bestseller) that specifically detail Saudi Arabia’s double-dealing support for terrorism worldwide.


Here's a good article from Ha'aretz Yoel Marcus today, entitled "Ending terrorism still comes first."

The New York Times also chimed in about Saudi Arabia's Janus-like treachery in an editorial, "Facing Facts About Saudi Arabia."