Posted 7/08/2003 01:10:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Dismantling Terrorist Infrastructure the Arab Way

The Israeli goodwill gesture to release prisoners is met by Arabs washing graffiti from walls in Gaza. Those Arabs sure know how to meet you half way. We might want to take a good look at ALL of the whitewashing they're doing.

The PA has more than 20,000 policemen in the Gaza Strip, while the number of all the Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah gunmen is estimated at fewer than 400. The PA is not expected to encounter any serious problem in crushing them, but it is still not prepared for such a move for fear of being accused of triggering a civil war.

Since Oslo, the PA has had the ability to reign in Hamas and to fight terror, instead they encoiuraged it. Is washing walls really a newsworthy accomplishment? Does it show any progress at all in undertaking "visible efforts on the ground to arrest, disrupt, and restrain individuals and groups conduction and planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere?"

"These are small steps, but they are important because they show that Abbas's government is trying to open a new page," said a former PA cabinet minister. "At this stage, I don't believe we can do more than this because of Israel's refusal to release all the Palestinian prisoners and end its policy of collective punishment. If anyone thinks that PA prisons are going to be filled with Hamas and Islamic Jihad members, they are mistaken."

So, anyone who expects the PA to put Arab terrorists into prison is mistaken. Why then are we even messing with this Road Map? The Arabs aren't even pretending to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure.