Wednesday, June 07, 2006

The Terrorist's Plan

The clash between Fatah and Hamas in the PA has come down to a referendum on the so-called "Prisoner's peace plan," that I prefer to call the "Terrorist's Plan."
First of all, who wrote this "plan"? They are:
Marwan Barghouti, Fatah-Tanzim leader, serving five life sentences for attacks which left five people dead;
Sheikh Abdel Khaliq al-Natsche, senior Hamas leader, ran a network of charities that directly funded Hamas' "military wing";
Sheikh Bassam al-Saadi led Palestinian Islamic Jihad's Jenin branch;
Abdel Rahim Malouh, formerly No. 2 in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, helped plan the murder of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi;
Mustafa Badarne recruited dozens of Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine members to attack Israeli soldiers and civilians.
They are all serving long prison sentences in Israeli jails for terrorist murders and planning. Would you trust these men to "plan" your future?
Second, does the Plan explicitly call for recognition of Israel? The answer is NO, there is no clause in the Plan calling for the recognition of Israel by the PA, only that they would establish a State in the areas of Gaza and the West Bank to be evacuated by Israel when it withdraws to the borders prior to June 5, 1967. This implies a two-state solution, but does not commit them to it, and does not recognize Israel within those borders (even CNN uses the phrase "implies recognition"). On the contrary, the Plan implies that the rest of Israel is fair game for the Palestinian State once it is established (as the continuation of the "armed struggle").
Also, the "Plan" includes Israeli acceptance of the inalienable right of return of all Palestinian refugees into Israel. This is a complete non-starter, because first, most of the people called refugees by the Palestinians are not in fact refugees (but are their descendents, a very different category) and second Israel will never accept this condition, it would be equivalent to committing suicide.
If that is the case why would Abbas make such a fuss about this Plan and why would Hamas bother to reject it. The reason is that Abbas is trying to exploit his position as elected Pres. of the PA to project his power over the Hamas Government, and this Plan is a convenient way to do it. Hamas rejects it because they totally reject the concept of an Israeli State, and accepting this Plan would have them implying the existence of Israel in the pre-67 borders, something they cannot accept.
So it is not that Abbas and Fatah are so moderate, it is that Hamas is more extreme. But, the Plan being touted by Abbas is little more than a re-hash of previous Arab dictates to Israel to accept their terms, or else! There is no sense of Arab compromise in this Plan or any other. The only positive feature of the Plan and the referendum is that it may establish that a majority of Palestinians prefers a two-state solution to continuing to try for a one state solution.
So while the clash in the PA over the Plan and the referendum is intense and real, for Israel it is all much ado about nothing. The Israeli Government was right to say this is a PA "internal matter." Let them fight it out and whoever comes out on top let them then approach Israel with a viable negotiating position, which is not this "Terrorist's Plan."

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