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Abbas's Responsibilities

(Washington Times) Editorial - The administration has worked hard to bolster Mr. Abbas, who is seen as someone interested in making peace. But responsible American and Israeli policy-makers will not continue to hold this belief forever if Mr. Abbas can't take the most basic steps to rein in the terrorist groups. He has flatly refused to take any steps against Hamas, which is using the temporary quiet with Israel to stockpile a much more lethal arms infrastructure, particularly in Gaza. In March, Israel and the PA reached agreement on a plan to deal with 495 fugitive Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank. In stark contrast to Washington, which since September 11 has followed a policy of capturing or killing al-Qaeda members across the globe, Prime Minister Sharon agreed that Mr. Abbas could neutralize the terrorists in a different, much softer way: Instead of arresting them, the PA could take alternative steps like seizing their arms or confining them to the West Bank cities where they reside. 52 of the fugitives live in Tulkarm and Jericho, the first two cities Israel turned over to Mr. Abbas several months ago, and he is nowhere near compliance with his promise to neutralize the fugitives. Until Mr. Abbas does this, Israel will continue its postponement of its scheduled pullback from three other West Bank cities. Mr. Sharon is preparing to release 400 additional Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, which would bring to 900 the number released since February. But none of this has persuaded Mr. Abbas to deal seriously with the terrorism problem. Last week, Hamas, embroiled in an internal political dispute with the PA, fired approximately 80 rockets and mortars at Jewish towns in Gaza and Israel. We expect that Mr. Bush will remind Mr. Abbas that this situation is intolerable.
2005-05-27 00:00:00
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