(Ha'aretz) Amos Harel - "Abu Mazen must take matters into his hands immediately," a senior officer at the IDF's General Staff said Thursday. "Before the elections, the Palestinians told us that he is trying to achieve calm through dialogue. That did not work. In the meantime, the elections are over, terrorism continues as usual, and the [Palestinian] Authority has done nothing." According to another senior IDF officer, "Our biggest worry is that the world will buy the argument that Abu Mazen is too weak to take action against terrorism. We cannot wait for months until he acts." The officer expressed confidence that a determined stance by the new chairman was capable of bringing about calm in the territories and forcing the terrorist organizations - and Hamas first and foremost - to cease their attacks. Military sources say Abbas should issue a clear order to end incitement in the official media organizations of the PA; he should ban the bearing of arms in public; and he should prevent the firing of Kassam rockets.
2005-01-14 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive