Abbas dedicates victory to ‘suicide’ bombers

By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff

January 11th, 2005

JERUSALEM - Among those to whom Mahmoud Abbas’s victory in Sunday’s PA leadership election was dedicated were the “Palestinian” homicide bombers who have taken the lives of hundreds of Israeli men, women and children, and permanently maimed thousands more.

Abbas also paid homage to Yasser Arafat and the 11,000 Palestinian Arabs sitting in Israeli prisons that had either failed to die during their murderous attacks on Israeli Jews or had been captured in time by Israeli forces.

Despite his increasingly inflammatory rhetoric, US President George W. Bush publicly congratulated Abbas on his win and invited the aging PLO chief to visit the White House at his earliest convenience.

Bush pressured Israel to swiftly implement its planned retreat from the Gaza Strip in order to bolster Abbas’s legitimacy.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s new leftist coalition partners, meanwhile, continued their long-standing tradition of ignoring hostile statements by “Palestinian” leaders, and said Israel should not demand too much in terms of actual results from Abbas.

That position suited Abbas just fine, said sources close to the PA “president,” who insisted he would never honor the Road Map commitment to disarm and dismantle the various “Palestinian” terror groups.

Dedicated to terror
 

"We offer this victory to the soul of our brother the martyr Yasser Arafat and to our martyrs [a reference to homicide bombers or others who had died while engaged in hostilities against Israelis] and to [the] 11,000 prisoners" currently sitting in Israeli prisons for terrorist activities, Abbas told well-wishers in Ramallah Sunday night.

Abbas won the PA leadership election with some 62 percent of the vote. He had no serious competitors.

Arafat’s heir used his election campaign to remind the Palestinian Arabs he too was a long-time anti-Israel terror boss who would continue the struggle to fatally weaken the Jewish state.

Abbas focused the majority of his speeches over the past two months on his determination to secure the release of all terrorists being held by Israel, despite their crimes.

He also made the so-called “Palestinian right of return” a cornerstone of his platform.

The right of return would see Israel flooded with millions of Arab “refugees” who claim to have lost their homes inside sovereign Israel during the Arab world’s full-scale attempts to annihilate the Jewish state.

Israel’s acquiescence to the demand would mean its downfall.

As such, the issue is a red line for Jerusalem, and one Washington had hoped Abbas would take a more moderate approach to.

Bush’s man
 

But Abbas’s inflammatory rhetoric notwithstanding, Bush wasted no time in publicly congratulating the “Palestinian” leader.

His openly anti-Israel positions failed to deter the American from inviting Abbas to the White House at his earliest convenience.

“I look forward to welcoming him here to Washington if he chooses to come here,” Bush told reporters from the Oval Office.

Arafat had been barred from the Bush White House for policies now being parroted by Abbas.

Israel’s primary concern
 

When Sharon met US Senator John Kerry in Jerusalem Monday, he indicated Israel was concerned by Abbas’s statements, but said he would reserve judgment until after the PA chairman had been given a chance to prove himself.

Sharon said Israel’s primary concern remained the elimination of Islamic terrorism targeting the nation’s Jewish population.

“At the current stage, after yesterday's elections, the main thing is to focus on what the Palestinians are doing vis-a-vis terrorism,” Sharon said.

“Abu Mazen's [Abbas’s nom de guerre] statements during the election campaign were not encouraging, but he will be tested by his actions after the elections,” the prime minister continued.

“[Abbas] will be tested by the manner in which he fights terrorism and works to dismantle its infrastructures,” a statement released by Sharon’s office read.

Sharon said he would meet with Abbas in the coming weeks.

Repeating Oslo’s mistakes
 

The prime minister’s new Labor coalition partners, meanwhile, upheld their party’s long-standing tradition of dismissing the hostile rhetoric of the Palestinian Authority, despite the undesirable affect it has on the Palestinian Arab public.

Newly appointed Vice Premier and Labor Party Chairman Shimon Peres, who Arutz 7 noted is famous for his “lukewarm” reactions to Arafat’s statements, said Israel should not put too much pressure on Abbas by judging his words or results.

Speaking to Israel Radio Monday, Peres said Israel should judge Abbas based “on what he starts to do.”

Peres and his leftist colleagues took a similar approach to Arafat in 1993, when they hailed the arch-terrorist as a peace maker for merely putting his signature on a piece of paper, though he never fulfilled any of the commitments contained therein.

Terror’s patron
 

Peres’s take on the situation appeared to suit Abbas, who sources close to the “Palestinian” leader said would never honor the PA’s commitment to disarm and dismantle the terror groups operating out of areas under its control.

Instead, Abbas will work toward a “ceasefire.” With this “the Israelis must be satisfied,” said PA legislator and Abbas ally Nabil Amr.

“We will not punish any [terror] group, we will contain them by our own way, not Sharon’s way,” Amr was quoted as saying by The Scotsman .

Incidentally, “Sharon’s way” happens to be the manner in which the PA committed itself to dealing with anti-Israel terror when Abbas, as PA prime minister, formally accepted the Road Map peace plan in 2003.

Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri said his group would work with Abbas, but would also “continue Kassam rocket attacks, shooting and resistance.”

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