Friday, January 28, 2005

Peace on the horizon or does the song remain the same?

The Toronto Star is reporting that the Palestinian Authority under the guidance of Mohamed Abbas has issued a decree forbidding Palestinians from carrying weapons though it is important to note that Abbas is still preferring to negotiate with the terrorists rather than arresting the lot and taking control back from the terrorists. The Jerusalem Post has a somewhat different take on the issue and notes that the decreed only forbids the citizenry from possessing unlicensed weapons. Nor has this been the first time such a bann has been issued. Arafat regularly issued such banns.

The Palestinian Authority has also decided to retired 1,000 old guard police officers to make room for some new blood. The rationale given is that these new police officers are allegedly untouched by the corruption in the PA which thrived under Arafat’s rein. Of course, one could be cynical and say that the new police officers were simply the wages of patronage for loyalty given.

I remain skeptical and am reminded of an old political cartoon that showed Arafat issuing an order to his forces to arrest all the terrorists during the Israeli Desert Shield operation. They in turn had to turn the guns on each other. There was no one left to run the PA. On another note, the Jerusalem Post and Debka are reporting on what the Toronto Star choose not to report which is the huge election win Hamas has had in local Gaza elections.

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