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From Bad to Unthinkable

[U.S. News] Mortimer B. Zuckerman - The terrible result of the weakness of Mahmoud Abbas in Mecca - a weakness of character and a weakness of his organization - is that the conflict with Israel will torment still another generation of Palestinians. The Mecca agreement between Fatah and Hamas drove a stake through the heart of the two-state dream, because it left no one with whom the Israelis could make a peaceful settlement. Abbas had been committed to disarming Hamas and calling early elections. Washington was supporting Abbas in this, but what does he do in Mecca? He agrees to share power with Hamas. Under the Mecca terms, Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh will stay on as prime minister and as head of the coalition, and Hamas will hold the majority of the cabinet, with 12 seats, with Fatah holding only six. Under the Mecca accord, Hamas' armed men will be incorporated into the Palestinian security forces, with salaries to be paid by the Palestinian Finance Ministry. Representatives of the Quartet cannot be unaware of Hamas' using the respected new finance minister, Salaam Fayad, to funnel money into the hands of Hamas ministers, including those heading military and security forces. Any financial support post-Mecca will serve only to strengthen the radical forces of Hamas. Unsurprisingly, as far as the Israelis are concerned, Abbas is toast. He is now incapable of carrying out any agreements that might have been reached with the Israelis, so the Quartet's road map to peace has hit a dead end. Hardly anyone in Israel thinks that if it decides to give up territory again, it would get peace in return. Tendering olive branches of the kind so often advocated by Israel's critics has borne nothing but bitter fruit. Israel left Lebanon, and Hizbullah gathered weapons, then made war. Israel left Gaza to the Gazans and was rewarded with a more aggressive Hamas and more rocket attacks. Hamas is part of the radical Muslim Brotherhood movement that does nothing to conceal its aspirations of fomenting Islamic revolution across the length and breadth of the Middle East, of toppling the moderate regimes allied with the West, and of working with Iran to expand its role as the leader of political Islam - all in service of the goal of an Islamic caliphate that would ultimately threaten even Europe. If the West must now choose between its survival and the survival of radical Islamic forces, we should choose our own survival.
2007-03-05 01:00:00
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