(Miami Herald) Ofer Bavly - The choice facing Abbas was clear: resume negotiations with Israel as it has been asking him to do for over a year and fast-tracking the talks towards statehood or alternatively signing a unity agreement with Hamas and abandoning hope for a peaceful settlement with Israel. He chose Hamas. With Hamas now part of the Palestinian leadership, Abbas chained himself to a terrorist organization that rejects the very idea of peace. Nor can Israel be expected to negotiate with a Palestinian leadership that accepts the Hamas charter and calls for Israel's destruction as the only possible solution for the Arab-Israeli conflict. Yasser Arafat refused to renounce the use of violence and died a stateless leader. Now, Abbas refuses Israel's outstretched hand, opting instead to ally himself with the same ruthless terrorists, proxies of Iran, who have been massacring Fatah members for the past five years. The writer is Consul General of Israel to Florida and Puerto Rico.
2011-05-06 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive