Daily Alert Archives

Jerusalem Views Hudna Irrelevant

(Jerusalem Post) - Herb Keinon Jerusalem completely downplayed the significance of a tactical cease-fire (hudna) between the Palestinian Authority and the terror organizations, with officials calling it everything from "irrelevant" to "a trap." "This 'cease-fire' is poison covered in honey," said Gideon Meir, the Foreign Ministry's deputy director-general for public affairs. According to Meir, the cease-fire may hold for a short while, but when it breaks down, and Israel is forced to react to stave off terror attacks, it will be blamed for "breaking the cease-fire." According to diplomatic sources in Jerusalem, Abbas hopes that the three-month cease-fire will buy him enough time to organize the PA's security apparatus, and gain popularity on the Palestinian street through what he hopes will be a palpable easing of conditions of the population, so that he will be able to deter Hamas from taking action without actually having to go in and dismantle the organization. According to these officials, the Egyptian mediators who helped hammer out the cease-fire deal pressed the Palestinians to agree in an attempt to push Israel into a corner. According to this logic, a period of quiet will force Israel into having to begin negotiating - under the terms of the road map - a provisional Palestinian state, and taking steps on the ground to significantly ease the plight of the Palestinians. According to the foreign ministry, three weeks after Aqaba there is not the smallest sign that the PA intends to engage in a true fight against terror. On the other hand, there remain dozens of "hot" alerts. There has been no change in Palestinian incitement, or the PA's attitude toward it. The incitement can be stopped without the need to reorganize the PA security apparatus.
2003-06-27 00:00:00
Full Article