Palestinian Elections

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

The Palestinian elections will be held today, and the media's take on the outcome will be known soon thereafter.  Over at The Corner, Cliff May notes a Saturday Washington Post editorial that describes the presumed winner Mahmoud Abbas thusly:  "Palestinian presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas has been a strong and courageous opponent of violence against Israel and a supporter of Palestinian compromises to move toward a two-state solution."  In response, May rightly notes that Abbas seems never to have opposed violence on a moral basis -- only on a strategic basis (arguing that terrorism hurts the Palestinian cause).

Charles Krauthammer's Friday Post column about Abbas is worth reading.  Krauthammer lays out some disturbing recent snapshots of Abbas's campaign.  These include Abbas being hoisted on the shoulders of a terrorist from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and declaring that he will protect all terrorists from Israel; Abbas reiterating his demand for the Palestinian "right of return," which would destroy Israel demographically; and Abbas's reference to Israel as the "Zionist enemy."

Some people write off Abbas's recent statements as "campaign rhetoric" that can be safely ignored.  While Krauthammer makes a strong case that "[i]n the Middle East, words are actions," it's important to note that my own reservations about Abbas are based on far more than his recent statements.  In a March 3, 2003 interview with al-Sharq al-Awsat, Abbas clarified previous statements he had been made that some had interpreted as calling for a demilitarization of the Palestinians' conflict with Israel:  "On the basis of the talks held in Cairo [between the PLO, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and othe groups] we agreed upon the freezing of Palestinian military operations for one year. . . .  We did not say, however, that we are giving up the armed struggle. . . .  The Intifada must continue."  Essentially, Abbas had been calling for violence against Israel years before he threw his hat into the ring for the current election.

Moreover, the evidence against Abbas reaches back at least as far as his 1983 doctoral dissertation, The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and the Zionist Movement, which peddles anti-Semitic Holocaust-denying conspiracy theories.  The dissertation relies upon known Holocaust revisionists as authoritative sources to argue that six million Jews were not really killed by Hitler, and also claims that the Zionists "led a broad campaign of incitement against the Jews living under Nazi rule . . . to expand the mass extermination."

Abbas will get his chance to lead the Palestinian people to their own state.  Despite his past, he may prove to be the right man for the job.  But the rest of the world should not repeat the "Arafat mistake," feverishly projecting the good intentions that they wish to see upon the Palestinian leader.  If Abbas shows no intention of discontinuing Palestinian terror, the world must hold him accountable for this rather than being overindulgent and assuming -- as it did during Arafat's dreadful reign -- that responsible leadership that will usher in peace is just around the corner.

(Hat tip:  The IP's Erick Stakelbeck.)

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