Q&A Friday #9: What About Abbas?

by John Hawkins | January 7, 2005 8:38 pm

Question: “Any preliminary thoughts on Mahmoud Abbas, the next leader of the Palestinian movement?” — Schroman2002

Answer: A lot of people are excited because he’s a new face, but quite frankly, I’m deeply skeptical that he is going to be willing and/or able to accomplish much.

If Abbas wants real peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, he’s going to have to get rid of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, unconditionally oppose any terrorist attacks on Israelis for any reason, & stop Palestinian schools and government controlled media from promoting terrorism and anti-semitism. Until all those things are done, real peace isn’t possible.

Even after Abbas is elected, will he have a mandate from the Palestinian people to do those things? No. Even if he did have a mandate, does he have enough loyal armed men to make it happen? No. Is he even inclined to do those things? My gut instinct says no, he isn’t.

So Abbas can make his pretty little speeches about peace that are primarily designed to appeal to naive Westerners who don’t understand that talk is cheap, but it doesn’t mean anything. Watch what Abbas does, not what he says to see if progress is being made.

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