Failures

The failure of Egypt and the PA to honor their agreements with Israel over
their common Gaza-Egypt border, otherwise known as the Philadelphi corridor,
raises serious questions about the credibility and capability of both of
them. Gaza is acknowledged even by Pres. Abbas to be in a state of "chaos"
with Palestinians wandering randomly everywhere, including through the
border and the former Israeli settlements, destroying and stealing
everything left in sight, including the hothouses for which a group of
(foolish) businessmen (many of them American Jews) paid millions of dollars.
They naively thought that the Palestinians could be trained to run a
business themselves, and this was their supposed contribution to peace.
Not only have the two sides failed to close the border, but they admit that
arms have been smuggled across during this period. Israel agreed to allow
armed Egyptian guards to be deployed there in order to specifically stop
this. The guards are there, but they are totally passive. Tens of
thousands of Palestinians have streamed across the border. When both sides
made an attempt last night to close the holes broken in the border, Hamas
brought up a truck, protected by armed men, and rammed the concrete barrier
and broke another hole. The armed PA and Egyptian guards stood by and did
nothing! Arms are still being smuggled, and they will end up being used
against Israelis in the West Bank if a transit route to there is opened.
In his excellent statement at the UN last night PM Sharon said that the ball
is now in the Palestinian's court. There was a time, not long ago, when
Sharon was reviled as a war criminal. Now he is lauded, he shook hands with
Pres. Musharraf of Pakistan and Qatar is talking about establishing
diplomatic relations with Israel before any agreement with the Palestinians
is negotiated. I said a long time ago that the view of Sharon as a right
wing extremist was ridiculous. He is an elected politician, and as every
Israeli leader he wants peace. Only he could have pulled off the
Disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria. But, Pres. Bush and others
agree with him, that this was a wrenching decision for Israel, we have shown
our peaceful intentions, but only if the Palestinians stop terror and
respond in kind can the process continue. There needs to be compromise
demonstrated on both sides. However, Abbas keeps making extreme statements,
about getting the whole of the West Bank and Jerusalem, while yesterday the
head of Hamas in a speech in Gaza called again for the destruction of Israel
and for the Palestinians to return victorious to Jaffa and Haifa. Is this
the kind of response we can expect? Unfortunately the answer is yes.
There is never any gratitude shown for Israeli concessions, there are only
more threats and violence. Abbas has announced numerous times that he will
not tolerate this chaos and the existence of parallel centers of power. He
has announced several times that gunmen will not be allowed to parade in
public, but nothing has been done. So his credibility is nonexistent and
his rule is in tatters. Furthermore, he stated explicitly again yesterday
that he will not use force against the terrorist organizations (Hamas, IJ
and al Aksa). So where does that leave the peace process? Nowhere!