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Mahmoud Abbas
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Abbas is no moderate

Op-ed: Instead of promoting peace with Israel, Palestinian leader killing the peace process

Earlier this week, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas again stated he will not recognize a Jewish state of Israel. While much has been reported about what Abbas refuses to accept, it might be beneficial to look at the other side of the coin and find out what he will accept.

 

A practical basis for what Abbas and his Fatah faction will accept is their constitution. This constitutes their stated goals and principles. Some samplings include: "Opposing any political solution as an alternative to demolishing the Zionist occupation in Palestine" and “…this struggle will not cease unless the Zionist state is demolished and Palestine is completely liberated."

 

Meanwhile, the constitution offers no hint of a desire for peace and co-existence with a Jewish state of Israel.

 

According to Abbas we know Israel's right to exist is unacceptable. We also know according to his party's constitution that the only acceptable thing is "armed revolution," and the "complete liberation of Palestine" (or in other words, the destruction of Israel.) Yet, again and again we hear Mr. Abbas referred to as a "moderate.” Can someone explain how any of the aforementioned quotes from the Fatah constitution qualify as "moderate?"

 

Moreover, Mr. Abbas' views are reinforced by Palestinian public opinion. A recent poll jointly conducted by American pollster Stanley Greenberg and the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion indicated 61% of Palestinians reject two states for two peoples. Moreover, 66% of Palestinians would accept a two-state solution only as a first step toward Israel being replaced by one Palestinian state.

 

Promoting death

Ironically, after rejecting Israel as a Jewish state, Abbas demanded that Israel freeze all settlement construction as a precondition for peace negotiations to resume. He's made this same demand in the past. In fact, at one point Israel froze construction for 10 months, yet Abbas did not come back to the table.

 

Moreover, what is the point of freezing construction in order to resume negotiations, if we already know he will never accept Israel as a Jewish state?

 

It's like trying to stop an oil leak in an engine that is sitting in a junk yard. It simply isn't going anywhere.

 

The following may be an obvious conclusion, but the time has come to officially declare that the two-state solution is dead. However, Israel or Netanyahu should not be held accountable for this. Each time Abbas rejects Israel as a Jewish state he is in fact eulogizing the two-state solution.

 

Thus, we can rightfully conclude that Abbas and the Palestinians are not promoters of peace. They are promoters of death - death to the two-state solution and to Israel.

 

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.16.12, 11:16
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