The Middle East - August 2003
In the Middle East, the group Hamas has broken their self-imposed cease-fire and killed 20 Israelis and injured near 100. The Israeli government has responded by killing a founder/leader of Hamas. Both sides are claiming that the other side 'started it'.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad seem to have an odd concept of a cease-fire. Declaring a 3 month cease-fire and then ignoring it whenever they choose is NOT a cease-fire. It is a pretense at a cease-fire. They cannot ignore their own self-imposed cease-fire whenever they choose and then claim the cease-fire is still 'in place'. The Hamas and Islamic Jihad cease-fire ended the moment they sent a suicide bomber into Israel to attack a civilian bus. But this is besides the point. The Palestinian Authority agreed - via the 'road map' - to disarm and dismantle Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Quasa Martyrs Brigade. They have done neither. The Palestinian Authority is not an authority if it cannot control armed bands within its jurisdiction. If it cannot dismantle these groups, it will not be able to provide security to its own people within a future Palestinian State.
The Palestinian Authority President (Arafat) and the Prime Minister (Abbas) must be able to provide security for its own people and prevent groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Quasa Martyrs Brigade from operating within its own territory if it hopes to become a civilized state. To proclaim they cannot arrest and dismantle these groups for fear of a civil war is ludicrous. The Palestinian Territories are already in a civil war - with outlaws such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Quasa Martyrs Brigade roaming free and doing as they wish. Until such time as these so-called leaders of the Palestinian Authority can dismantle these groups and remove weapons and bombs from the general public, they will not be seriously viewed by the rest of the non-Arab world as either civilized or deserving of a Palestinian State.
8/21/03 ( 311 )
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