June 09, 2003

Abbas refuses to meet with Berlusconi

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas refuses to meet with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi because he refuses to meet with PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, Palestinian information Minister Nabil Amr said Sunday. Berlusconi is the first European official who has followed the American and Israeli line of isolating Arafat.

A PA source close to Abbas explained that because Abbas came under internal attack for his conciliatory speech at Aqaba, he feels he cannot afford to meet with Berlusconi unless the Italian PM meets Arafat too. Italy will take over the rotating presidency of the EU on July 1st.
[...]
The PA has accepted that the US will boycott the Palestinian leader, but was assured by the Europeans that they would continue to meet with Arafat, and Berlusconi's decision caught them by surprise. A Palestinian source close to Abbas suggested that the isolation of Arafat was only complicating Abbas' job and turning members of Fatah against him.

"...was assured by the EUropeans..."--I think we all know who that was: Weasel Spokesman Numero Three-O and one of our favorite Tranzi diplos Dominique de Villepin.

Poor Berlusconi!
And President Bush probably told him that it would be OK, which it should have been if the "Palestinians" were going to start keeping their part of the "road map" plan.
But they aren't.
Baby Wipe Billionaire Yasser Arafat clearly isn't going to bow out and let Abbas run the show.
Also today, there was this:
Abbas to hold press conference correcting Aqaba misunderstandings

Suffering increasingly vitriolic criticism from Palestinian organizations, including his own Fatah, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has scheduled a press conference at 10am on Monday to correct any misunderstandings of his speech at the Red Sea Summit in Aqaba last week.

"There will be no military solution to this conflict," Abbas said in Arabic at the conference, "so we repeat our renunciation, a renunciation of terror against the Israelis wherever they might be."

A senior Fatah official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post, "We have the feeling that the speech was written by [US President George W.] Bush or [National Security Adviser] Condaleezza Rice." According to the official, many Fatah leaders are enraged by Abbas's speech, "because he didn't mention important issues like the future of Jerusalem, the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners and the siege on president Arafat's headquarters." He said Fatah leaders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have asked to see Abbas to convey to him their disappointment with his "humiliating concessions."

He added: "[Abbas] doesn't have the authority to make concessions on behalf of the Palestinians."

A statement issued by the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank strongly condemned Abbas for delivering a speech "written with Zionist and American ink." The statement lashed out at the Palestinian prime minister for using the term terrorism, warning that its members would not allow "the new Zionists to describe the resistance as terrorism."

On Friday, thousands of Palestinians demonstrated throughout the Gaza Strip to protest this "treasonous speech". Calling on Abbas to quit, the protesters carried placards that read, "Our struggle against the Nazi Israeli occupation is not terror."

At Aqaba, Abbas said that terrorism is "inconsistent" with Islamic teachings, and places "obstacles" on the way to Palestinian independence. "These methods also conflict with the kind of state we wish to build, based on human rights and the rule of law." He pledged 100 percent effort to end the violence - which he called the "militarization of the intifada' - and said "we will succeed."
[...]
Before and after the conference, Abbas held talks with Hamas to come to an agreement regarding a ceasefire, but Hamas walked out of the talks last week and announced it would continue terror.

It hasn't even been a week since the Aqaba summit and already there have not only been more terror attacks on Israelis with their deaths and injuries, but the "Palestinians" are occupied, you might say, with repudiating Abbas's power and authority as their new PM.
Predictable, but still appalling behavior.
But then, our SoS Colin Powell weighed in on the matter also:
Powell warns Arafat not to undermine Abbas

"If he does anything that undercuts Prime Minister Abbas and does not allow us to achieve the promise of the road map, he has to be held to account for that," US Secretary of State Colin Powell told CNN, referring to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

He underlined the message in another interview when he said: "I hope more nations around the world [Hint, hint, EU. He's talking to you!--Jen] will bring pressure to bear on Yasser Arafat so that he helps Prime Minister Abbas develop the capability to deal with terrorism, and doesn't just sit on the sidelines hoping that Abbas fails."

Powell did not spell out the consequences of Arafat's defiance, but it is widely assumed that Washington will withdraw its objections to those in Jerusalem who are inclined to expel the Palestinian leader.

Suits me, sir!
Expel that murderer--or better yet, execute him for crimes against humanity and genocide!
Like President Bush, Powell means what he says.
And while Arafat hasn't himself said anything in English undermining Abbas's authority, we all know that Fatah, Hamas and the Al Aqsa Brigade speak for him and they've already spoken pretty loudly just in the past 5 days: Abbas is worse than a sock puppet for Arafat.