(Jerusalem Report) Ehud Ya'ari - Shortly after the suicide attack in Netanya on July 12, Abu Mazen made a plea to Ramadan Abdallah Shallah, the general secretary of Islamic Jihad in Damascus, to deny responsibility for the attack. Later it turned out that part of the suicide operation was planned inside the police station of Tulkarm under the watchful eyes of Palestinian security officers. Just a few days before the bomb, Abu Mazen and Shallah had met over dinner twice, once at the table of President Assad and the second time in the Damascus home of Hamas leader Khaled Mashal. Anyone who dreams that the PA will shake itself out of its lethargy when it smells the scent of disengagement is going to be sorely disappointed. Essentially, the PA will not try to smash the alternative authority that has developed alongside it - the association of terror organizations that is demanding its share of the booty and wants to operate according to its own political agenda. Abu Mazen will denounce the Jihad's terror and, at the same time, continue to sit with its leaders. He will declare the need for "one authority and one gun," while reconciling himself to the armament of the "popular army" of Hamas.
2005-07-27 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive