TALKING POINTS

TALK: "Israel is obstructing progress toward a Palestinian state."

POINT: Newspaper headlines in mid-January 2007 said it all: "Palestinian Opposes Provisional State" ( The New York Times, January 14, 2007) and "Abbas Rejects 'Temporary Borders' for Palestine" ( Washington Post, Jan. 15, 2007).

Israel once again offered to move the peace process forward and advanced ideas to allow the Palestinians to achieve independence before the thorniest issues are resolved, but Mahmoud Abbas, following in the footsteps of his mentor Yasir Arafat, chose to prove again the Palestinian penchant for never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

Abbas not only rejected the chance for peace and interim statehood, he declared his continued support for violence against Israel.

Speaking in Ramallah on the 42nd anniversary of the founding of Fatah on January 11, 2007, Abbas said "Let a thousand flowers bloom, and let our rifles, all our rifles, all our rifles, be aimed at the Occupation."

Paying tribute to Arafat, Abbas continued, "I say to the master of the martyrs, your sons will continue your march. I say to you, your lion cubs will continue this struggle, this battle until a Palestinian state is established on the land of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital."

Abbas also used the type of anti-Semitic rhetoric normally associated with Hamas. While criticizing Israeli counter-terror operations, he said "The sons of Israel are mentioned as those who are corrupting humanity on earth" (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 11, 2007).

The major difficulty," summed up British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Dec. 7, 2006, "is that the Palestinians don't accept Israel's right to exist."

At the very moment when the United States, Israel and Europe are trying to strengthen his position against Hamas in the belief that he will act to stop terror, Abbas was condoning attacks against Israel.

Just days before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived to ask him to fulfill his commitments under the road map for peace, Abbas announced he supported the very actions the road map calls for him to stop.

This is the familiar tactic of Palestinians who pretend to be moderates in English for the Western press and then express their true feelings in Arabic to the Palestinian public.

The priority for Abbas today is not peace or improving the lives of the Palestinian people that he is responsible for as president of the Palestinian Authority. Abbas is now just trying to survive.

To do so, he must unify the factions fighting for dominance. Since he is unwilling to confront his opponents militarily, he hopes to cajole them to cease their mutiny against him by playing the Israel card. He is asking for unity to fight against their common enemy - Israel.

Simultaneously, he seeks the means to stay in power from the West by presenting himself as the only alternative to Hamas. And it is working because he is being armed and financed even as he continues to allow the attacks against Israel to continue.

The Palestinians' latest rejection of an offer for statehood can now be added to the long list of missed opportunities (starting as far back as 1937).

Will the Palestinian people ever choose a leader who will put their interests first and choose prosperity over power, peace over violence, and the future over the past?

By permission from Myths and Facts - A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict, by Mitchell G. Bard.