Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas agreed to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert twice a month only to appease the Americans, a top Palestinian official said Thursday. Meanwhile, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal declared that his movement would continue to launch attacks on Israel despite the formation of the PA unity government. Addressing supporters in Gaza City by phone, Mashaal said: "We will never give up our principles; anyone who thinks that Hamas is tired or weak is mistaken. Hamas has not stopped its military operations."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced during her recent visit to the region that Abbas and Olmert would be holding biweekly meetings as part of the effort to "develop a political horizon" that will build confidence between the two sides.
"These meetings will be ineffective," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a former PA information minister who is currently a close advisor to Abbas. "I don't see any point in holding these meetings. We agreed to them only to appease the Americans." Abed Rabbo said what was important for the Palestinians at this stage was not the meetings themselves, but their content. "We don't believe that Israel is serious in conducting political negotiations with the Palestinians," he added.
Commenting on the outcome of the Arab summit in Riyadh, Abed Rabbo welcomed the decision to re-endorse the 2002 Arab peace plan. He said the Palestinians were pressing for the establishment of a special committee of high-level Arab officials to persuade the international community to accept the plan.
Abed Rabbo also revealed that the Palestinians had requested that the Arab states launch a diplomatic offensive to convene an international peace conference on the Israeli-Arab conflict, like the one that was held in Madrid in the early 1990s.
Well then. I wonder how one says “bad faith” in Arabic. Hopefully, the US State Department has someone who does know.
3 comments:
This is just normal for the palis. Get some translations of Arafat's speeches in Arabic, and compare them with things he'd say in English it Israeli or American leaders.
Abbas is the same way. The Hamas crowd doesn't even pretend.
I guess my point is that even though Arafat is long gone, his legacy lives on. I fail to see much of a difference between the two, except Abbas has better western packaging and it frustrates me no end that these statements are so under reported.
About a year ago my Father, who is by no means an uninformed or uneducated man, found my blog. He was quite frankly astonished by some of the actions of the alleged moderate leaders. He was really quite startled that Abbas to learn that Abbas signed a bill which authorized the continued payments of pensions to the families those who died while on "resistance" operations. And I don't think he's alone. Most in the West are in the same position. It's a twofold failure. Our media and our governments pay very little attention to these kinds of things for a variety of reasons/interests. It certainly makes us look incredible foolish to continue to prop up financially these organizations or pressure the Israelis to make peace with a group who very blatantly makes very "unpeaceful" statements/actions on a routine basis.
If they were widely reported in the larger mainstream with the frequency that these kinds type of statements were issued, I think there would be a great deal of pressure brought to bare on our governments to disconnect with these people.
If they were widely reported in the larger mainstream with the frequency that these kinds type of statements were issued...
But that might offend the muslims. Mustn't do that now, remember: it's a Religion of Peace!
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