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Jordan Urges Support for Mahmoud Abbas
Jordan, an ardent backer of President Bush's Mideast peace drive, is urging worldwide support for Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas as the key to countering terror and ending the conflict with Israel. ``There is no hope That tears it — they're doomed, doomed! Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, will play host for three-way talks next week in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba with Bush, Abbas, known also as Abu Mazen, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Bush hopes to get them started on a three-stage road designed to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and set up a Palestinian state by 2005. Or not, depending on the splodydopes. In an interview Thursday, Bush said that during his visit to the Middle East, he will remind the Palestinian and Israeli leaders that he was the first U.S. president to publicly espouse the establishment of a Palestinian state. ``I am for two states, living side by side, in peace,'' he said. Bush also noted that he has consistently said that the Israelis are going to have to deal with the settlement issue. Right after the Paleos deal with the right of return. Ambassador Kawar, speaking before the Israel Policy Forum, a self-described pro-peace group of American Jews, said ``there is a real power struggle'' under way within the Palestinian movement. ``We are worried Abu Mazen doesn't have support from the Palestinians,'' he said. ``It is very important to give the new prime minister the support he needs to fight terrorism.'' He's not going to fight terrorism, he's going to give the Paleos some good PR until the Hamas guys get tired of playing around. Calling on Israel to help, Kawar said lifting curfews and roadblocks on Palestinians, freezing construction of homes for Jews on the West Bank and halting the demolition of Palestinians' homes were crucial in supporting Abbas. Also crucial for letting splodydopes through. Edward S. Walker, a former assistant secretary of state and U.S. ambassador to Israel and Egypt, agreed that helping Abbas was essential. ``The bottom line is going to be how much support Mazen gets from us, from Israel and the Arab countries,'' said Walker, who is now president of the Middle East Institute. ``One thing is absolutely clear. Arafat can't deliver. He hasn't got the president and he hasn't got the Israelis,'' Walker said in an interview. ``The only person who can deliver is Mazen.'' They're doomed. Bush's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said at the White House that the president was going to ``look the leaders of the Israelis in the eye and look the leaders of the Palestinians in the eye and say to them, 'You must make progress, you must implement the road map, you must carry out your concrete obligations.''' The Palestinians must improve security and Israel must provide humane treatment to the Palestinians Both sides have to want it first. Turning to one of the most difficult issues in the conflict, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians claiming a right to live in Israel, Kawar proposed a solution. Most of them should receive compensation, with a donors conference held to attract worldwide contributions, and a small number, perhaps 20,000 whose families live in Israel, should be permitted to live there, he said. That will never fly: the Paleos will consider it an abandonment of what they've fought for and the Israelis will consider it the end of Israel. Paleos don't want to live in Israel, they want to live in Palestine. The Palestinians claim they were forced to leave during Israel's 1948 war for independence or that they are descendants of Palestinians who fled. I'm a descendant of (among others) French, Brit and Scot people who fled to the U.S. Does that give me a claim in Europe? Barring a major disruption in the volatile region, Bush will meet in Egypt on Tuesday with President Hosni Mubarak, the leaders of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and with Abbas. Then, on Wednesday, Bush is to meet with Sharon and Abbas, in Jordan. It is a high-stakes gamble by the president, who had been roundly criticized in Europe and the Arab world for not moving quickly into the Mideast morass and is now jumping in with both feet. Remember what happened to Poppy.
Posted by: Steve White 2003-05-30 |
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