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Bush Sends $23 Million to the Palestinian Authority - Weren't We Supposed to Be Against Terrorists?
Today conservative writer David Jacoby at Townhall.org has an article, "The problem with Mahmoud Abbas," which makes some sound points about the violent background of Abbas, a terrorist ally of Arafat for many years. He notes that the State Department (that's the State Department under the Bush Administration) has just given $23.5 million of your tax money to the Palestinian Authority. Yes, that's right - once again our government is embracing terrorists at the same time our sons are being killed in the name of fighting terrorists (but not the ones that caused 9-11 or that are walking across our open borders to cause mayhem here). Arafat was the grandfather of modern terrorism, a man responsible for the deaths of many Americans, and the PLO continues to involved with terrorism and remains intimately tied with terrorists in many nations. What on earth are we doing handing them more money? Why not just ship them some weapons as well?
Jacoby wisely sees through the spin our nation is giving to Abbas, but seems to miss the shocking betrayal represented by Bush's support for Arafat's right-hand man in terrorism. Here is an excerpt from Jacoby's article:
On Dec. 29, the State Department transferred $23.5 million to the Palestinian Authority -- a mark, said assistant Secretary of State William Burns, of American "confidence in the direction of the PA's reform program." The absurdity of such confidence was made clear one day later, when Abbas brazenly campaigned with members of the al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade in Jenin. A picture of Abbas riding on the shoulders of Zakaria Zubeidi -- a notorious terrorist and one of Israel's most wanted men -- was published around the globe.
Yet when Colin Powell was asked about it, he shrugged. The photo is "disturbing," he conceded, but "I don't think it reflects Mr. Abbas's overall approach to governing."
Please. The embrace of Zubeidi was no anomaly. Abbas is sometimes described as a "moderate" opposed to terrorism, but his opposition is purely tactical. He has no *moral* problem with blowing up buses and cafes, he simply thinks such methods are, for now, counterproductive. Last week, Abbas hailed Palestinian gunmen in Gaza, but urged them to stop firing rockets at Israeli towns. Because deliberately targeting civilians is wrong? No. "Because this is not the proper time for such actions." Hardly the words of a moderate.
Again and again, Abbas has expressed his solidarity with violent extremists. Last month he traveled to Damascus to meet with some of the region's most implacable terror groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front For the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. Afterward, Abbas's "foreign minister," Nabil Sha'ath, declared that between the Palestinian Authority and the other groups, "there are no differences over the objectives."
Those objectives have never changed since the days Arafat and Abbas began Fatah, the organization whose name means "Conquest." The primary objective has always been the conquest and destruction of Israel, a goal that is beyond negotiation, reason, or moral considerations of any kind. The destruction of a legitimate nation state, however unpopular that state may be with some, is a goal that the world must not support - yet that has been the stance of the United Nations (contrary to its Charter) since 1974 in its unbridled love for Arafat and acceptance of his warped world view. It is a nightmare from which we will not awake during the reign of Abbas - and which can only be strengthened by Western leaders who take money from their citizens to fund terrorist states.
Jacoby points his finger at the State Department and Powell, seeming to forget who their boss is. If we continue to provide funds and credibility to the terrorist Abbas, how can we ask more of our young men and women to risk death to fight terrorism in the Middle East?
Funding the PLO while we are fighting terror makes about as much sense as, say, letting a nation that we have long identified as a terrorist nation, Syria, join the UN Security Council to help oversee our international efforts against terrorism - another move that the Bush Administration allowed.
If we were really fighting terrorism to protect the United States, we would cut off all funding and recognition for terrorist states, seal our borders to keep terrorists out, drill our own abundant oil to quit funding nations that support our enemies, and withdraw from an organization that has been a major supporter of terrorist organizations and dictatorships, namely, the United Nations. And we'd boot them from off our soil as well. Let unscreened "diplomats" with their regular abuse of "diplomatic immunity" cause havoc in some other nation.