Wary Israel grants Abbas more time

[drdon326]

Israel, both weary and wary of Palestinian Authority promises to work to stop terrorist attacks, responded unenthusiastically to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Monday directive to take action, but at the same time gave him additional time to prove himself.

Four days after the attack at the Karni crossing that killed six Israelis, and even as Kassam rockets and mortar shells continued to hit Sderot and Gush Katif, the IDF did not initiate any major incursion into the Gaza Strip, an indication that Israel wants to give Abbas more time.

Senior diplomatic officials said that despite the frustration, "no one has written Abu Mazen off."

The PA responded to the reprieve by instructing its security forces in Gaza to prevent attacks. This decision was taken at an emergency meeting headed by Abbas and PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, and was viewed as an attempt to avoid a massive IDF operation.

A senior official in the Prime Minister's Office characterized the PA's decision as "a small step in the right direction. The real test will be the test of performance, what steps the PA security services will take to implement the decision. So far we haven't seen any real steps."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1105992533299&p=1078027574097

................................................................

[number6]

1. kick

:kick: :hi:

[drdon326]

2. Why kick?

why no comment?

[number6]

3. my comment

yes give him more time, I agree.

why kick, keeps post at top, so more people can read it.

[drdon326]

4. So you support Sharon's decision to give abbas more time.

thanks for clearing that up.

[DemFromMem]

5. This is good news

It means that Sharon is calling the shots, not the right wingers. And it is necessary right now. If Sharon does not give Abbas some time, he'll always be accused of being the one who torpedoed peace possibilities. And Abbas DOES seem to be getting the message.

After four years of this mess, we can wait a little longer.

[Violet_Crumble]

6. Sharon would be rightly accused in that case...

It'd be pretty damn hard to try to argue that Sharon didn't torpedo the possibility of peace, though I'm sure some would give it a clumsy try. Btw, I thought Sharon was a right winger. Or has the world turned on its ear and he's now a leftist dove?

Also, what message is Abbas supposed to be getting? That all Palestinian resistance, violent and non-violent must end immediately so that the occupation can continue unhindered, along with the killing of Palestinians and destruction of their homes?

Violet...

[DemFromMem]

8. Sharon is now a "right of center" not a right winger

He's clearly moved to the left when it comes to Palestinian relations over the last two years and that's why Labour has been willing to join the coalition. His main opponents these days are the right wingers in his own party, not the left and center parties.

[The Magistrate]

9. It Would Seem To Me, Ma'am

That the message Mr. Abbas ought to get is two-fold: first, that he must be in control of violence carried out for political ends in Arab Palestine, and second, that violemce will not gain him, or the people of Arab Palestine, any desireable outcome now or in the foreseeable future. Neither of these things seem unreasonable to me, although it is my view that negotiations toward a settlement ought not hinge on an absolute cessation of violence, since they might put such violence on a course to extinction, if successful.

It seems to me past any sensible arguement that violence by the various armed Arab Palestinian bodies does not in the slightest hinder occupation of the lands over-run in '67, and so subtracting it from the situation would not leave the occupation unhindered: it is already unhindered, and will remain so. It seems to me that just about all killing of Arab Palestinians by Israeli state forces is rooted in measures aimed at suppressing such violence, and that therefore, if this violence ceased, and it was clear over time that it had ceased,this would result in a great, if not a total, reduction in the number of Arab Palestinians killed by Israeli state forces, certainly among Arab Palestinians not connected with armed miltia bodies, anyway. It is, unfortunately, true that an end to violence by these bodies would not end the expansion of settlements, and although it cannot be argued that such violence does anything to end that, it is certainly a standing incitement to such violence, and Israel ought to halt it on its own.

[Violet_Crumble]

7. Probably the same reason you do it...

Grin and bear it. Share the kicking, donny...

Violet...