162Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has apparently decided to put an end to a rather unsuccessful term in office. According to news reports the official charged with meeting Palestinian commitments toward an Israeli/Palestinian peace agreement has headed off a prolonged power struggle by tending his resignation. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is "considering" whether or not to accept it and may ask Abbas to stay on until he can select a whole new Cabinet.
Okay, hands up everybody who finds this turn of events shocking.
You shouldn't. Remember, Abbas is the man who was introduced to the world by the press as "Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen" for several weeks after he was appointed. "Mahmoud Abbas, A.K.A. Abu Mazen." "Mahmoud Abbas, who's also goes by Abu Mazen..." Even in the Reuters story I pulled off Yahoo this morning, months after he took office, I read: "...Abbas, who is widely known as Abu Mazen."
The man has an alias, one that apparently everybody on Earth knows about. If we can't even stick to calling him by just one name, why would anybody think anything else about him is genuine?
This "power struggle" he's been facing all week is smoke and mirrors. There's no struggle at all here. One man has absolute power in the Palestinian Authority, and that man is Yasser Arafat. Abbas has a title and an office to allow him to perform a single function: provide an air of legitimacy that the PLO and the PA have never had in order to fool the United States and Israel into thinking the Palestinians want a compromise. "Why, we're complying with your wishes! See? We have a Prime Minister with two names! Arafat's staying out of the picture! We want to follow the 'road map'! Now concede everything to us!" The only reason Abbas has to worry about a "no confidence" vote is that Israel, at least, hasn't been sufficiently fooled. The Parliament has a lack of "confidence" in his ability to play his part effectively.
Look at Abbas's sterling record. As soon as he took office Hamas said "We'll never stop killing Zionists!", so he fulfilled his commitment to making them stop by asking them to stop, politely. When they said "No", the road mappers clucked "Well, Israel has to make more concessions so that he has enough power to make them stop." Why does any country have to make concessions to give him power he's supposed to already have? The only reason Israel and the United States signed on to the "road map" in the first place was that the Palestinians promised to create the premiership and fill it with someone capable of doing the one thing that Arafat is unwilling or unable to do: end the terror attacks long enough for a real peace effort to get underway. Controlling Hamas without violence is "Abu Mazen's" job. If he can't do it, it's because either nobody controls the terrorists, or their controller just isn't Him. History demonstrates that it's the latter, but either way it's not Israel's responsibility to help him establish control. That control was supposed to be part of the power ceded to him by Arafat.
If he has that power he's been real stingy about using it. Terror attacks have continued, leaving Israel no choice but to continue to see to its people's safety by building fences and mounting attacks on terror leaders. Abbas could stop this today if he would just rein in his people. If he simply doesn't have the power, then there can be only one reason why: the person who does, Arafat, will never give it up. That makes Abbas set dressing, and any agreement with him as a signatory won't be worth the legal paper it's written on. This is obvious.
The fact that it's obvious is why the Palestinians are staging this "power struggle". They have to make Abbas look like a, dare I use the word, "crusading" hero, trying against all odds to make the peace plan work in the face of opposition from the unpopular Arafat and hard-liners in the Parliament. His offering his resignation is supposed to make us cringe in fear. "Oh no! Mahmoud Abbas, Known at the frat house as Abu Mazen, might leave us! How will we ever have peace now?" And now Arafat is deciding whether or not to accept it. You know, this is actually pretty good drama. If this were an episode of "24" it would be the end of the next-to-last segment of the hour. Abbas storms into Arafat's office, stands defiantly at the desk, turns over his letter of resignation, and Arafat takes it, looks at it for a moment, then looks up at Abbas in confusion. Cut to the digital clock that goes to commercial saying "Beep...BEEP, Beep...BEEP..."
How will the day be saved? I don't know what's happening as I'm writing this, but I can guess how this will go. If Israel and the U.S. rush to reaffirm their commitment to peace, and Israel delays construction of the security fences and pulls back some troops, or promises not to hunt down Arafat any time soon, or something along these lines, I'll bet Abbas will miraculously win his "power struggle" and there'll be no hard feelings on both sides and nothing will be lost...except more of Israel's security. If none of this happens, then Abbas will have to update his resume and the Palestinian Authority will have to hold auditions to cast the new Prime Minister.
In the tradition of another Prime Minister I propose a third way to go, one that doesn't require road maps, Palestinian PMs or Arafat's cooperation. Like the "road map" it can be summed up in two words:
"Israel Wins."
The terror attacks will end when Israel Wins. The land disputes will be settled when Israel Wins. Innocent Israelis will be safe when Israel Wins. Hamas will be shut down when Israel Wins. Arafat will no longer be anybody's problem when Israel Wins.
Radical idea, you say? Maybe so, but unlike the "road map", the Wye Accord, The Oslo Accord, or any other accord aside from the 1979 Camp David Accord, "Israel Wins" has a proven track record of success. Though it doesn't create permanent peace, every time the principle is applied-like in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973-the cease fire with the losing side lasts not days or weeks, but years. Apply it to this one and I'm sure it will create a cease fire lasting enough that a Palestinian PM will have plenty of opportunity to make a peace plan work.
In order to get "Israel Wins" underway, Israel must choose a PM that will decide the freedom and safety of his people are more important than peace. The United States Government must adhere to that decision and not pressure the Israeli Government to think otherwise. Both governments must ignore Europe, the Middle East and the United Nations when they all pipe up and whine "That's wrong!" Once these factors are in place, Israel can get down to the business of hunting down and killing the terrorists in their midst before a terror attack occurs, as well as making sure that if anybody slips through the only person he blows up is himself. The U.S. should assist Israel in this endeavor any way it can, including reminding everyone that if Israel falls, anyone who considers that a victory will follow it. This is in America's best interests. It's about time we realized that the War on Terror would go a lot more smoothly with Israel at our side instead of on the sidelines.
As for Mahmoud Abbas, in the credits as Abu Mazen, I'm sure he can find a better gig in Paris.
P.S.: As I signed on to post this I caught the news. Mahmoud Abbas has resigned his post. The press reports this as a setback for the peace plan. Too bad, but the nice thing about the "Israel Wins" option is that it's always ready to step up in a pinch. Israel and the United States should consider that while Arafat puts out the casting call for the next Prime Minister.