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Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62311-2003Aug28.html
Arab Leaders Must Act
(Washington Post) Dennis Ross - • Arafat's constant efforts to undermine Mahmoud Abbas and block any efforts to confront those who literally blew up the cease-fire have cemented his status as a revolutionary whose only cause is his personal rule, not the well-being of Palestinians. •It is time for Arab leaders to assume their responsibility. Prime Minister Abbas needs the cover of Arab legitimacy to confront Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. • To that end, Arab leaders need to cross a threshold: Send a delegation of Arab foreign ministers - to include Saud al Faisal - to Jerusalem and Ramallah. They must make clear that Hamas and Islamic Jihad violated the cease-fire and threatened the Palestinian cause. •The Arab ministers must insist that Arafat now accept the consolidation of Palestinian security forces under Abbas; nothing less is acceptable. •Arab leaders will resist playing this role. Not a single Arab leader condemned the Jerusalem bus bombing, and to date no Arab leader has ever condemned Hamas by name. Certainly they will not be prepared to take these or other steps if President Bush does not now push them to do so. Does he have the leverage to do so? He does in no small part because Arab leaders believe active U.S. engagement is critical to defusing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. • We are probably only one or two Hamas bombs away from losing diplomacy as an option for the foreseeable future. Perhaps President Bush can use that sober reality to salvage a process he thought he had launched at Aqaba.