Within days after the conclusion of the Annapolis conference which supposedly was to clear the way for peace between Israel and Palestinian leaders, a key official of Fatah, which President Abbas controls, announced Fatah would back Hamas, its enemy, if Israel troops invade the Gaza strip. “Fatah won’t remain idle in the face of an Israel invasion of the Gaza Strip. We will definitely fight together with Hamas against the Israel army. It’s our duty to defend the people against the occupiers.” This statement apparently indicates a willingness on the part of Fatah and Hamas to set aside differences in case Israel attacks any portion of the Palestinian Authority. There are reports several Arab nations are trying to mediate issues between Hamas and Fatah. Egypt and Saudi Arabia have made clear to President Abbas that peace cannot proceed until he reaches some sort of compromise with Hamas. The leaders of Hamas are charging the Annapolis conference was a cover up to allow Israel to launch an attack on Gaza.
It is amazing that nothing was done or said or agreed upon at Annapolis between Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas concerning any planned Israel operations in Gaza. This is definitely not the time for Israel to initiate any violent action against Hamas regardless of the provocation. There is no question Hamas is allowing rocket attacks on Israel, but the Olmert government has too much at stake to allow their anger and frustration to get in the way of proceeding on the road to peace. Invade Gaza and that ends any hope for peace for years. The most important focus of Israel should be upon how it can assist moderate Arab leaders in negotiating with Hamas so there can be a unified Palestinian group with whom to negotiate.
5 responses so far ↓
1 mendy // Dec 1, 2007 at 5:10 pm
first off the main point (or at least the unofficial meaning of annapolis) of the summit was to bolster fatah against hamas ie: moderates against islamists (who took control of gaza in a bloodshed battle with fatah) the whole point of the many gestures done by israel for president abbas in the past few weeks were to give him more power to counter the influence of hamas. for fatah to now reject the tacite agreement of playing the game of moderates on both sides and even more to side with hamas when israel will be forced to finally protect its civilians from daily rockets is borderline ridiculous.let’ s not forget that the road map basic principles are: a Palestinian state for israel security and peace ie:security concern like daily rockets are integral if not THE part were abbas should help israel as much as he can otherwise there is no road map etc
to invade gaza id not an IF but a WHEN and has been talked about for months publicly it is not to let out ”anger and frustration” but for the government to defend civilian inside its recognized borders of terrorists who have been shooting rockets for months.
hamas has very clearly (at least they can be respected for their clarity on the matter) stated for many years they want no peace,no ”negotiations” ,no recognition of israel or its citizens ,they will never allow anything else than a palestinian state on all of israel territories.
they are recognized by all western states as a terrorist organization and have carried suicide attacks for the past 15 years.
israel should move in clear gaza and fatah should thank them for endangering their life doing the job abbas security forces never did…..
as of you the writer you should get a grip on middle east affairs you seem vaguely lost………..
2 hmpierson // Dec 3, 2007 at 5:50 am
“This is definitely not the time for Israel to initiate any violent action against Hamas regardless of the provocation. There is no question Hamas is allowing rocket attacks on Israel…”
What an idiotic statement. Why don’t you say “This is definitely not the time for Hamas to initiate rocket attacks against Israel regardless of the provocation?”
Easy enough to make this kind of statement from the comfort and safety of your own home, isn’t it?
This kind of ridiculous double standard shows the writer has an unshakeable anti-Israeli bias.
3 Fred Stopsky // Dec 3, 2007 at 7:08 am
If one really cares about Israel, they realize peace is the most important goal that can be achieved. An invasion of Gaza at this point, would end opportunities for peace. A wise nation knows when it is time to hold back. Even Olmert said in a recent interview that failure to achieve peace would be “finish Israel.” Those are his words, not mine. The 40 year conflict in Ireland ended when the British government sat down with IRA terrorists who had killed hundreds. It is emotional outbursts which damage Israel. I NEVER said Israel should end violence, I said “at this time.” Do you grasp the difference?
4 mendy // Dec 3, 2007 at 9:52 pm
i think if one really cares about israel they would stop dreaming about ”making” peace with people who are not interested and never will.
thanx fred we knew israel wants and needs peace.
at this time meaning at a time where your population is attacked on a daily basis from lands freshly given back as the last concessions for peace the first think you do is defend your population and learn you lesson about concessions that go nowhere….
it is weak and stupid leaders like olmert which damage israel.
IRA ended violence and then only then sat down and talked in the middle east you talk you sign then you start violence to get more.
do you grasp the difference? one is ready for peace the second is bargaining with carrots and batons to get the donkey moving to the slaughterhouse
5 Romeo Abdo // May 8, 2008 at 3:29 pm
They always play this games with terrorists.
Leave a Comment