Confronting the Bush Administration with Palestinian reality

The Bush administration has determined that – in order to serve its perceived goals in the Middle East – a Fatah-led Palestinian state should be established in Judea and Samaria. To that end, the US State Department is now promoting a conference at the Naval Academy in Annapolis MD on November 26 and 27 that will set the tone for serious peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

At present, discussions between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are taking place to establish a document that will provide points of agreement between the two sides prior to the conference.

At present, the demands of PA president Abbas are maximalist, while the Israeli government is stretching itself to make concessions. There is talk of Israeli withdrawal to the 1947 armistice lines, with withdrawal, at a minimum, from some part of eastern Jerusalem, and a corridor to be established between Judea and Samaria and Gaza.

The US – which advocates Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem – is predicating its policy on the notion that Fatah is a ‘moderate’ entity that can be relied upon; it is willfully ignorant of all the evidence to the contrary:

· That Mahmoud Abbas was a deputy of Arafat, participated in terrorist supporting activities, and continues Arafat policies to this day.

· That Farouk Qaddoumi, who currently controls the Fatah Central Committee, totally rejects any concepts of peace with Israel, and seeks even greater control within the Fatah.

· That Abbas, as PA president, has been in league with and fostered support for terrorist entities such as Hamas. The culmination of a long Fatah history of cooperation with Hamas was the Fatah-Hamas unity government which Abbas forged last February. While that government disintegrated, there is solid evidence of a rapprochement being established now. Abbas never stops speaking about a negotiated Palestinian state that will include Hamas dominated Gaza.

· That the Fatah charter to this day calls for the destruction of Israel via armed resistance, and that the PLO covenant calling for Israel’s destruction was never actually amended or changed, despite the pretense that it had been.

· That after the Bush Administration supplied arms, ammunition and intelligence to Fatah this past year, under the specious premise that it would fight Hamas, as Fatah surrendered its entire American arsenal in Gaza to Hamas in June, when Hamas formally assumed the reigns of power in Gaza.

· That the PA, even under the Abbas aegis, pumps out incitement in its textbooks and via its media – that is unabashedly anti-Jewish, while denying the legitimacy of Israel and praising a Jihad holy war against Israel

· That Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, which the US Justice Department determined in 2002 was a terrorist organization, remains an integral part of the Fatah. Members of the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades openly express loyalty to Abbas as their leader while Abbas protects this group, even incorporating its members into PA security forces.

The efforts to bring about a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria in reality serve to undermine the security of Israel (and also Jordan) and bring further instability to the entire area, including Iraq. Support for the terrorist-allied Fatah gives comfort to radical fiercely anti-Zionist and anti-American forces in the region; as was clearly the case when Israel left Gaza two years ago, which enabled terrorists to establish a Unchallenged terror state. Any pullout from Judea and Samaria would provide terrorists with control of further territory from which to operate. This is not in the best interests of Israel nor of the United States..

Approach to stopping the Bush policy

Because of the immediacy of the conference and the damage that may be done if a Palestinian state is established, a speedy response is necessary.

The key is the provision of first rate information on the terrorist reality of Fatah and the dangers of the establishment of a Palestinian state with the PA at its helm.

In order to provide the necessary critical information, it is vital to provide a series of cutting-edge briefings in the US and Israel that would draw upon the expertise of academics, security experts and journalists who are Arabic-speaking and proficient in the issues involved.

These briefings should be held on Capitol Hill, the National Press Club in DC, and in Annapolis at the time of the planned Middle East summit.:

Members of the US Congress on both sides of the aisle have expressed criticism of the Bush administration’s continuing coddling of Abbas. Congresspersons are more likely to respond with vigorous opposition to the Bush policies if they have solid, cutting-edge information on the issues. As appropriate, members of the press and major US policy makers should be included in such briefings.