Posted on 06/15/2007 4:48:23 AM PDT by Esther Ruth
29 Sivan 5767, June 15, '07
Published: 06/15/07, 1:26 PM
Abbas Hailed as Moderate as Fatah on Rampage in Judea, Samaria
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
(IsraelNN.com) Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas unleashed his party's Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades terrorist militia Friday, leaving at least one person executed and dozens of others wounded and arrested. Al Aksa said it murdered a 32-year-old Shechem area man as an answer to Hamas assassinations of Fatah terrorists in Gaza.
The bloodshed spread to Tulkarm, east of Netanya, where masked Fatah terrorists sprayed fire indiscriminately and torched a Hamas office, according to the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency.
Fatah terrorists also kidnapped a grocery store owner in Tulkarm, shot at two buses, set fire to a Hamas charity office and stores and raided homes.
However, the international community, led by the United States, continued to tout Abbas as a moderate, and the State Department said it will continue to train Abbas's elite Presidential Guard militia. American Middle East military envoy Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton said last week that reports of Hamas forces being superior to those of American-trained Fatah were incorrect.
He and American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently convinced American Congressmen to approve more than $60 million to help equip the militia despite the danger that Hamas might confiscate its weapons.
However, Hamas lived up to a previous pledge and confiscated on Thursday and Friday a huge arsenal of rifles, grenades, ammunition and American armored personnel vehicles in Gaza. Hamas terrorists paraded in the streets of Gaza and showed off the weapons while hundreds of Fatah fighters fled to Egypt.
The State Department hurried to Abbas's side after Hamas devastated Fatah in Gaza. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: "President Abbas has exercised his lawful authority ... We fully support him."
She telephoned Abbas to "underline the United States support for [him and] for the Palestinian moderates who have made the commitment to working with the Israeli government," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
He referred to Abbas and his supporters as "advocates...with whom we are going to work.... Make no mistake about it, that the way to achieve a Palestinian state, via the negotiating table. It is never going to be achieved via the use of violence, threats, intimidation or terrorism.... The strategy is to help build up functioning, effective, legitimate institutions of a future Palestinian state." McCormack deflected reporters' doubts about the extent of Abbas's power.
However, David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, stated: "The people who are moderate are not effective, and the people who are effective are not moderate." The people who are moderate are not effective, and the people who are effective are not moderate.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has followed the American policy and constantly refers to Abbas as a "moderate" although the only historical difference between Fatah and Hamas is that Fatah, under Yasser Arafat, signed the Oslo Accords. Under the agreement, Israel donated thousands of rifles to Fatah, and the government has documented their use in fatal terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.
Both Fatah and Hamas demand the right of more than five million Arabs to immigrate to Israel because of their claim to be descendants of about half a million Arabs who fled Israel in 1948.
One major difference between the two groups is that Fatah is a secular party, but the Arabic meaning of its name is "conquest." The word "Fatah" is also a reverse acronym for the Arabic term for the Palestinian Liberation Movement.
Another apparent difference is that Abbas outwardly accepts a two-state solution, but in practice, PA schools teach children that all of Israel is "Palestine." Abbas also has been faithful to the demand that a new Arabs state be located in all of Judea and Samaria, with its capital in Jerusalem.
This demand violates the American Roadmap plan, which calls for negotiations for final borders.
The State Department has maintained that Abbas's statements are only a prelude to negotiations, but the Hamas takeover in Gaza and Hamas claims that Fatah leaders are linked with the United States will make it harder for him to live up to his "moderate" image.
What a joke.
The only moderate Muslim in the cult of Islam is one who is to weak to spread the faith by sword. The old men are busy dishing out honor killings to little girls.
Even Michael Vick wants to be ringside for this fight.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
----------------------------
Moerate muslim: One that wants to kill you later, when it’s more convenient.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Hanan Ashrawi (hurl) was on CNN. She called this a “battle between two political factions”.
Then I turned the channel to see a Hamas “spokesman” giving an interview and at its conclusion the anchor said “thank you very much for speaking with us”.
Unbelievable!! What a twisted world this is.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.