Evidently, this is the only way for the Israelis to absolve themselves from their signed peace commitments. Ya'alon's deputy, Eli Ben -- Dahan, was quoted on the same day as saying that "Palestinians have to understand they won't have a state and Israel will rule over them."
The Israeli minister of education Naftali Bennett, speaking to the army radio on Oct. 11, raised the anti -- Abbas ante to an adventurous and irresponsible end game when he said that Abbas' "absence is better."
Bennett left it to the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, to explain the raison d'Ã ªtre for his call for the "absence" of Abbas. In a Ynetnews article on Oct. 3, Oren concluded absurdly that "Abbas poses a danger which may be revealed as strategically more serious than the tactical dangers posed by (the Islamic Resistance Movement) Hamas."
Former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman was more forthright when he called on Oct. 12 for Abbas' Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank to be "overthrown."
According to William Booth, writing in The Washington Post on Oct. 10, "Israeli (Cabinet) ministers have branded Abbas 'a terrorist in a suit' and 'inciter in chief'. They mock him as weak," ignoring that their smearing campaign accompanied by their government's determination to undermine his peace -- making efforts is making him weaker internally and render the "two -- state solution" a non -- starter among his people.
A poll released by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research on Oct. 6 found that 65% of the public want Abbas to resign and if new presidential elections were held the deputy chief of the Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas," Ismail Haniyeh, would win 49 percent of the votes against 44 percent for Abbas. The "main findings" indicated a "decline in the level of support for the two -- state solution" as 51 percent "opposed" this solution. What is more important in this context was that "57% support a return to an armed intifada."
International Community Indifference
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
