World Threats

Fatah and the Palestinian Authority are frequently referred to as the moderates that can make peace with Israel. Well, Abu Daoud, the guy behind the massacre of the Israeli athletes in Germany in 1972, recently died in Syria. And guess who called his family to express his condolences? Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The Fatah Revolutionary Council also praised Daoud as a hero. Remember that each time you hear about the Middle East peace process as President Obama pressures Israel to make concessions.

Don’t get me wrong, I definitely prefer Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority over Hamas. It took major cajones to blame the 2009 Israeli offensive into the Gaza Strip on Hamas and Iran. Abbas is going a long way in discrediting Hamas (even more than they are discrediting themselves).

This is a good trend, but we shouldn’t jump the gun and call Abbas a moderate yet. It’s sort of like going on a date with a girl that isn’t rude enough to walk out and leave you with two plates and a bill, but is rude enough to call her boyfriend in front of you that she didn’t mention existed.  I’d rather take the second option but neither is going to work out.

That’s sort of what we’ve got with Hamas and Fatah right now. On the one hand, Hamas is pretty honest when they aren’t lying. Sometimes we hear people saying they can be negotiated with, but then they do us the favor of saying that the creation of a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is just a first phase to destroying Israel.

But on the other hand, like Hamas, the PLO ambassador to Lebanon said that he believes the two-state “solution” will lead to the “collapse” of Israel. And last August, during Fatah’s conference in Bethlehem, the speakers praised the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and said Israel must accept the right of return of millions of Palestinians and withdraw to its 1949 border, which they know would destroy Israel.

But, y’know, it’s all Israel’s fault.