Abbas' intentions again revealed
No way murder of Rabbi Hai carried out without PA president's knowledge and authorization
The terrorist attack in which Rabbi Meir Hai was murdered in Samaria and the IDF's subsequent liquidation of the terrorist cell responsible for the attack is an example of the fact that the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank conducts itself according to puzzling standards that raise question marks regarding their seriousness. Such standards cannot be characteristic of an entity that declares day and night its desire for peace.
Whoever was heartened by the fact that normalization is slowly being restored to the West Bank should understand the PA's comprehensive method of operation: building new luxury neighborhoods, encouraging tourism, and a "cultural intifada" are not replacing the armed struggle. The PA, simply put, is having a hard time renouncing terrorism.
It was Israeli observers who hurried to interpret the declaration as a public relations act intended for internal purposes or as Abbas' lip service to the population of the territories in order to maintain the threat balance with Hamas. These observers claimed that Abbas is losing control in the Palestinian street, because Hamas, among other things, leads public opinion on the release of prisoners. In order to regain control, he had to act quickly to create equilibrium. Are we again only fooling ourselves?
The practical interpretation of "armed struggle" is the murder of Rabbi Hai and the planned murder of other Israelis throughout the West Bank. In the current reality, there is no way the murder was carried out without Abbas' knowledge and without his operational and financial authorization, even if by a "circumstantial nod." Obama, Sarkozy, and Brown will not rush to address the specific event that occurred in Samaria because it is convenient for them to cling to the opinion that Abbas "was not involved." Leaders of the Western powers have a certain privilege: they don't have to study the details – they only see the bigger picture. However, only when they start doubting Abbas' innocence will things maybe start moving.
The PA finances terrorists
Three members of the cell operation in Samaria belonged to the Tanzim and the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, one of the military arms of Fatah, the melting pot and flesh and blood of Abbas, and the undeniable legacy of Yasser Arafat. Ever since signing the Oslo Accords, "Abu Amar" (Arafat) was meticulous not only about being perceived as a man of peace, but also about maintaining his and Fatah's terrorist side through half-secret sub-organizations that operated on a parallel track and even were granted priority over the bodies involved in peace talks.
Thus, for instance, while talks were being conducted over the implementation of the Oslo Accords in the mid-90s, while Fatah members Mohammed Dahlan and Jibril Rajoub were negotiating with IDF officers at the southern entrance to Jerusalem, another Fatah member, Marwan Barghouti, stood at the northern entrance to Ramallah as the head of armed militias and shot at IDF soldiers and settlers. The three of them, by the way, received their salaries from the same source – the Fatah coffer with Arafat's signature. The three assassins who murdered Rabbi Hai also received their salaries from this coffer.
Arafat was half terrorist and half fighter against terrorism. Abbas, too, is, on the one hand, instructing his ranks to arrest some 700 Hamas members lest they take action against Israel, and, on the other hand, is authorizing members of his organization, al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, to take action against Israelis in order to regain fame on the street.
Abbas is, on the one hand, ordering his people to cooperate with the Israeli security forces and to act as operational contractors for the regiment commanders under the brokerage of General Dayton, yet, on the other hand, when these same people operate in Area A, which is under Palestinian responsibility, his spokesperson Abu Rudaina is quick to condemn Israel for its actions in Nablus. Every child and every elderly man in the territories is already familiar with this double morality.
People like Raghsan Abu Sharah, Anan Sabah, Raed a-Sarkaji, who murdered Rabbi Hai and were subsequently liquidated, can be found in the dozens among the ranks of Fatah and continue to receive a monthly salary signed by Abbas. They and their brothers are an example of his level of seriousness to sign a peace agreement with Israel.
The time has come for Western mediators Tony Blair and General Dayton for explain to Mahmoud Abbas that the stick cannot be held by both ends. The days of "lip service" and "public relations for internal purposes" are over because Palestinian society only interprets them strictly and never leniently. Abbas must understand that the culture of peace is not just lack of incitement in the mosques. It does not go hand-in-hand with his attempt at being half man of peace and half terrorist.
Colonel (res.) Moshe Elad served as the head of the security coordination mechanism with the Palestinian Authority in the Oslo Accord period. Today, he is a security studies lecturer at the Western Galilee Academic College
