MECCA SILLY

The Mecca conference aimed at halting the Palestinian civil war demonstrated that negotiating silliness did not die and certainly was not buried when Vietnam War negotiators argued about the shape of a conference table. The wily Wahhabi hosts of Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniyah tried to patch up the blood feud between Fatah and Hamas before the wound deepened, allowing Tehran and Al Qaeda to spread their infection. The Saudi’s desert hospitality was reportedly sweetened with a billion dollars worth of petro-honey, anything to get Abbas and Haniyah to drink from the peace cup. For now, the Gaza shooting has stopped and the requisite prayer/hug/handshake photos have been taken and distributed. The statements of unity have been issued.

Like a Broadway play in workshop form, the Palestinian policy book and lyrics have been rewritten and retooled and the producers are anxious to see how it will fly with the next audience. In this case, the quartet, holders of seasons box seats to the show. The reworking in Mecca, however, has produced exactly one new word…”respect.” That is, Hamas has agreed to…“respect” prior agreements. Exactly what that is supposed to mean, is a guessing game from Oslo to Ankara to points east and west. The newly reconfigured Palestinian government—accomplished by a quick-change resignation/reinstatement has agreed to a face saver—”respect” falls short of “recognition,” but is an improvement over “rejection” and is certainly better than “renunciation.”

Based on this word play, the hopeful west is expected to free up billions in aid, which is expected to flow immediately into the Palestinian tin cup. Additionally, recognition of the Fatah and Hamas-led “unity” government will follow, lending credibility to the Hamas cause and isolating Tehran and Damascus. The parts of the “book” related to violence and killing were left unchanged and thus intact as the producers know this part of the plot is still a local crowd pleaser. Already the world press is asking the audience what it thinks of the changed script. There is breathless speculation as to the different reactions. Will France and Russia approve? Will England and the U.S give the thumbs down? Will the creators resume fighting among themselves?

Hopefully, all this silliness will be short lived. The truth will all be revealed with the next Jihad attack against civilians in Israel. Here’s the logic. It’s not about words or thoughts, it’s about actions. The Palestinians have the right to think whatever they want about Israel’s status as a country. What they don’t have the right to do is legitimize or condone suicide attacks. That in any language is an act of war. The Israeli reaction can and should be to eliminate its enemies from the top down. The Israeli government made a huge mistake in Gaza when Giliad Shalit was captured. The reaction to that act of war should have been to make the pain to Hamas and the rest of the Palestinian government, so unbearable that it either returned Giliad Shalit or was destroyed..

Israel had for a minute the worlds’ understanding and sympathy when a cross border attack was launched, and an invasion pretending to be “resistance” initiated. No other western, or for that matter eastern nation, would have allowed an attack on its boarders by an armed and sworn enemy, who carried away its soldiers to unknown captivity. By allowing Hamas to remain in power, Israel acknowledged that Gaza was the new Lebanon…a fatal mistake.

But now that can be corrected with the next suicide attack against soldiers or civilians. Israel must (and here’s a good word to use, one the Islamic parsers would understand) “disband” the Hamas leadership. Isn’t that what Spain just did after the ETA airport bombing? Isn’t that just what Egypt just did against the Islamic Brotherhood even before the inevitable attack? Isn’t that just what the Saudis just did against their Salafi soldiers? Why should Israel do any less? Failure to act by Olmert will insure that Hamas and Islamic Jihad will step up the slaughter and then exactly as Sharon was elected to staunch the violence, so too will Netanyahu.

It’s all so clear; Bibi will be the savior with a hard line if the Palestinians return to war. All the arguing, word parsing, and diplomatic wrangling to come over Hamas’ “respect” for previous agreements is a huge distraction the Israelis and the west should avoid. Concentrate on actions not slogans. Someone like Condi should fly to Riyadh and sit down under a tent with the gracious Saudis and explain this to them. It is not dollars for words; it should be dollars for actions, actions that bring peace, prosperity and stability to the Palestinians and the Israelis. That would further marginalize Tehran more than any other gambit. It would also be the real world definition of “respect.”