[New York Sun] Youssef Ibrahim - For nearly 60 years, outside parties have decided what is good for the Palestinian Arabs based on what is good for those parties' interests. Saddam wanted suicide martyrs - as does Iran - to bug Israel. Should Iran and Iraq ever reach some mutually satisfying status quo with Israel, funds and training for these Palestinian Arab martyrs will dry up in a hurry. Saudi Arabia wants little Palestinian Arab Wahhabi jihadists running around and Saudi-style Islam spreading out in Gaza and the West Bank. In the midst of it all, disoriented Palestinian Arabs keep hoping for a leadership that is courageous and purposeful enough to chart its own course. It won't happen. What kind of leadership can be expected from a prime minister who says, "We are not seekers of office but seekers of martyrdom?" This is what the so-called Hamas government prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, is fond of repeating. The only common denominators between all figures of authority among Palestinian Arabs have been mediocrity and dishonesty. For those reasons and more, the latest agreement to calm Palestinian Arab internecine conflict will not end the Palestinian Arab conundrum. It is only a matter of time before Iran stirs its operatives in Hamas to disrupt the accord - if only to upset Saudi Arabia.
2007-02-16 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive