A Devil's Bargain
I have posted about my discontent at President Bush's seeming flip-flop on his hard line against terrorism when it involves terrorists who attack Israel.
Jonathan Tobin has written an excellent article Is the choice Abbas or the abyss? that points out President Bush's mistake. Below is an excerpt but I encourage you to read the full article.
Having stiffed Ariel Sharon on Hamas and signaled Abbas that he's under no pressure to disarm, Bush is heading toward a moment when he'll be forced to make a hopeless choice between two equally unacceptable alternatives: Once the Palestinian electorate speaks, Bush will have to recognize a Fatah-Hamas coalition government and thereby giving the lie to its anti-terror strategy. Or he can tell the Palestinians at that point that relations with terrorists are impossible and undermine his otherwise exemplary Middle East democracy project.
By allowing the "political wing" of Hamas to participate in the Palestinian elections, it puts the road map to peace on a very precipitous slope.
There can be no peace for Israel until all the terrorist groups are named for what they are. They should not be given any legitimacy. Hamas, Fatah, and Islamic Jihad: there are no differences in these terrorist groups even if some may have a "political wing" and an "armed wing".
posted by SEAWITCH at
8:56:00 PM
6 Comments:
Seawitch,
"There can be no peace for Israel until all the terrorist groups are named for what they are."
Damn right!
I hope and pray that Bush will take the only correct approach--see these people as the terrorists they are and act accordingly.
boz,
I think he's going down that long, dismal road that has been taken many times.
Seawitch,
"Or he can tell the Palestinians at that point that relations with terrorists are impossible and undermine his otherwise exemplary Middle East democracy project.'
I still have hope, not much but I I do.
In some strange way the latest Iranian speeches should have helped bush to understand this problem.
felis,
I can only hope you are right. It would have been better for President Bush and everyone else if he had stuck to his original hardline against all terrorists, and not reenact the double standard for the ones that target Israel. I really admired him when he refused to meet with Arafat.
I think Bush understands. He's just realizing the hell every president has had in trying to "solve" the problems of the Middle East. Any time you enter into a deal with the Palestinians, it ends in a double cross.
esther,
That is true, double crosses at every turn. But I feel he needs to take a firmer stance on the PA disarming the terrorists, like no more aid until that is done.
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