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A "Road Map" to Nowhere

(Boston Globe) Jeff Jacoby - In an interview last week with Lally Weymouth of the Washington Post, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas said he was ''waiting to see'' if Sharon would deliver on his commitments to "all the items stipulated in the road map - freeing the prisoners.'' ''But the issue of prisoners is not in the road map,'' Weymouth said. ''It is in the road map,'' insisted Abbas. In fact, it isn't in the road map. There is nothing at all in the blueprint that requires or even encourages Israel to release Palestinians arrested for terrorist activities. It is likely that Abbas knew it perfectly well - but figured most readers wouldn't. So far the Palestinians have fulfilled none of the mandatory commitments of the road map. The anti-Israel incitement continues. Terrorism has not stopped. As for the dismantling of terrorist groups, Abbas says bluntly that it will never happen. It is the Oslo farce all over again: Israel weakens itself through concessions on the ground. The Palestinians pocket the concessions, then break their promise of peace. However well meant, this is a road map to nowhere. It will not lead to genuine peace, not so long as the Palestinians are ruled by the likes of Arafat and Abbas. Terrorism made them what they are; it is the taproot of their power and influence. From such men, peace will never come.
2003-08-04 00:00:00
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