Abbas is a Charlatan

by Ze'ev Jabotinsky

As the cease-fire takes effect, there is more talk about how now is the time to strengthen Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and trust him to bring about a solution to Gaza, meaning to demilitarize it. A cold, hard look shows that nothing is more dangerous for us than depending on this charlatan. 

First, the Palestinian Authority is incapable of preventing a military coup like the one Hamas carried out in Gaza in 2007. The only reason its people were not assassinated by their "unity" government partners was that the IDF was watching over them day and night. Here the PA shares mutual interests with Israel, which constantly eliminates militarization attempts and the buildup of terrorist infrastructure in Judea and Samaria. We also hear enthusiasm for cooperation with Israel on security, but that stems from their own survival instinct and not because they have suddenly joined the Zionist movement. So the PA will not disarm terrorist organizations in Gaza, even if it promises to. 

Secondly, the moderate Arab countries currently have mutual interests other than Abbas, and sometimes even preclude supporting him. Their mutual interest with Israel comes from the fact that they have recognized that they might well need Israel's military assistance against ideological enemies like Iran or the Islamic State group. It would be exciting to see an Islamic State member, in front of his black flag, spitting and trampling on a Palestine Liberation Organization flag and cursing the PA because an Arab caliphate opposes its ideology. Jordan understands that it will need our help when the Islamic State reaches its eastern border, whether Israel dismantles the PA or builds it a state. 

Third, empowering Abbas is dangerous because of his ideology, which he hides in his contact with Israel and the Western world. In an interview with Palestinian television, his son Yasser made it unequivocally clear, despite what his father says, that they would "return to Safed, Palestine." He even called upon his son Nader to say the same thing to prove what he taught his children. All of Abbas' actions are intended to use the Palestinian charter and the PA school system to teach the next generation that we have to be expelled through force, even though he survives on the IDF's coattails. 

Fourth, the PA has already violated its commitment to demilitarize. Operation Defensive Shield was enough of a lesson in what will happen to us if there is a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria. 

What's more, there is a fair chance that the PA regime will fall once we hand over Judea and Samaria. It could happen because of internecine Palestinian fighting or because it is taken over by a group like the Islamic State. Terror tunnels that lead to the heart of Jerusalem, Kfar Saba, or Ben-Gurion International Airport, combined with occasional mortar shelling and rocket fire, would force Israel to invade a sovereign nation. The damage such a violation of international law would cause to Israel's security and diplomatic standing would be enormous. 

Abbas does not work for us. So not only is he not a solution, he is the problem.

Ze'ev Jabotinsky

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=9513

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