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PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: Is Israel making him sweat? (AP file photo)
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| By Jerusalem Newswire February 28, 2005 |
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Israel expects PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas to not only arrest those responsible for Friday's Tel Aviv nightclub bombing, but to try them for murder after they slaughtered five Israeli Jews in cold blood and wounded 50 more.
If Abbas fails to do so, and instead prosecutes the killers for harming "Palestinian" interests while leaving the terrorist infrastructure untouched, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has threatened to renew Israel's war on terror and halt peace "gestures."
Signaling their contempt for Israeli ultimatums, top PA leaders dismissed Sharon's warning and accused Israel of impairing peace efforts. PA Foreign Minister Nabil Sha'ath even went so far as to suggest Israel was behind the Tel Aviv attack.
The PA's failure to deal with those behind the bombing and the entire terrorist infrastructure in accordance with its signed agreements is not expected to erode Israel's or the international community's seemingly infinite patience for the Abbas regime.
Abbas's test
Following Friday night's bomb attack, Abbas vowed to pursue the "saboteurs" responsible and deal with them appropriately.
Abbas said their actions were not in line with current "Palestinian" policies.
Israeli National Security Advisor Giora Eiland said the supposedly moderate Abbas must finally start acting like a real peace partner, and that the manner in which he chooses to deal with the killers behind Friday's atrocity would be closely examined.
"Will they be tried for murder, as is accepted practice in rational, normal places? Will they be judged accordingly, and pay the price accordingly?" Eiland asked on Israel Radio.
The PA's past record would suggest the answer is a resounding "NO".
Traditionally, the PA has prosecuted terrorists who act without official sanction for merely "harming national interests."
Threatened consequences
Sharon went one further, threatening to renew Israel's war on "Palestinian" terror and halt all peace gestures to Abbas if the PA did not dismantle the terror groups in the wake of the Tel Aviv bombing.
"While the State of Israel is interested in advancing towards a settlement with the Palestinians, there will be no diplomatic progress until the Palestinians take strong action to eliminate the terrorist organizations and their infrastructures in the PA areas," Sharon said at Sunday's cabinet meeting.
Sharon noted that "Israel has been showing restraint in order to facilitate progress; however, it is clear that if the Palestinians do not begin to take vigorous action against terrorism, Israel will be compelled to step up military activity that is designed to protect the lives of Israeli citizens."
Same old same old ultimatum
The prime minister's ultimatum, however, smacked of the same unfulfilled warning Israel has been making since the signing of the "Oslo Accords" in 1993.
The PA has for more than a decade reneged on its commitment to remove completely the terrorist infrastructure, allowing the terror groups and even official PA troops to carry out thousands of attacks on Israeli men, women and children.
After every particularly deadly attack, or attacks that occurred following long lulls in the violence, Jerusalem has issued a strongly worded threat to step up military action if the PA did not fulfill its security obligations.
But the PA has spurned every ultimatum thrown at it by Israel, confident international pressure would force the Jewish state back on the road to Palestine regardless.
At this point, observers feel it is clear the PA simply doesn't buy the threats.
'Palestinian' contempt for Sharon's demand
In line with that assertion, PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia was dismissive of Sharon's remarks when questioned by reporters Monday.
"If Israel wants to cut off contacts with the Palestinians, it will be its own decision and we will not cry," Qureia said.
Sha'at issued his own warning, cautioning Israel that if it wanted to see peace, it would back down on talk of defending itself militarily.
The PA foreign minister said Israel's reaction to the Tel Aviv bombing, rather than the attack itself or the PA's failure to prevent it, was damaging prospects for peace.
"The Israelis are using what happened in Tel Aviv as a pretext to spoil everything we agreed upon in Sharm el-Sheikh," Sha'ath said, referring to the Sinai summit earlier this month where the PA pledged to put an end to all anti-Jewish violence.
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