ABBAS CALLS FOR RETURN TO TRUCE - but blames Israel for its demise!

GULF NEWS (Bahrain): JERUSALEM: Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas last night appealed to militant groups to halt their attacks on Israel and recommit themselves to a Mideast truce left in tatters by a wave of violence over the past week. ... "I call upon all the Palestinian factions and forces to renew and to declare their commitment to what we had agreed upon, to respect the (Palestinian) Authority ... and to obey the truce," he said. ... Abbas blamed Israel for the recent outbreak of violence. "We hold the Israeli government fully responsible for the consequences of its policy, which reflects a step backward from what we had achieved ... and sabotaged any chance to maintain the truce," he said. "No one could expect the continuation of the truce from one side." [Emphasis added.]

ABBAS'S ADDRESS IS TYPICAL OF SO-CALLED "PALESTINIAN MODERATES": (1) a weak verbal attack against the terrorists (WHICH CONTAINS NO CONDEMNATION OF TERROR, PER SE, BUT MERELY ATTACKS IT AS COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE TO "NATIONALISTIC" GOALS); (2) a strong condemnation of Israel (as if retaliating against terror was the same as terror; even the BBC noted that Abbas blamed Israel for the breakdown of the truce!); and (3) this is followed by NO actions to disarm the terrorists, ACTIONS WHICH WERE REQUIRED BY THE ROADMAP.

We should be much MUCH tougher on Abbas, and make it very clear that if he doesn't do what he promised to do (disarm the terrorists) that the whole deal is off: Israel's hands are free and they unilaterally handle the disputed territories however they wish.

Abbas has used the excuse that he doesn't want to start a civil war in the disputed territories. But Abbas should realize by now - with civil war all but declared in Gaza - that he will have a civil war whether he tries to disarm the terrorists or not. It reminds me of that joke:

Some sophisticated explorers held captive by scary savages (they've offended somehow) are offered two forms of punishment: death or pungoo. (Pungoo is usually described as some horrifying and perverse sexual attack.) The captives - too proud to allow themselves to be sexually humiliated - stoutly choose death. The captors announce: "OKAY: DEATH BY PUNGOO!"***

Abbas can either have: (a) a civil war against the terrorists - one in which he fights back (and as a result he gets worldwide aid); or (b) a civil war in which he fails to fight back and is condemned as an appeaser by the sane nations of the Free World (America, Britain, Australia, Denmark, Italy and Israel to name a few). The choice is his. And he'd better choose soon: The civil war has already started - (read about it HERE and HERE).

Old jokes aside, Winston Churchill gave invaluable advice - which Abbas, and other world leaders who are wobbly in the face of terror should heed: "Refusing to fight an honorable battle may afford a temporary peace, but in the long run, it's a peace too costly." AND (to Parliament after Chamberlain returned from Munich with an agreement with Hitler): "You have been given the choice between war and dishonor. You have chosen dishonor, and you will have war!" Churchill was right - on both counts, and his words are as relevant today as they were then.

[*** I've also heard this joke told as, "Okay, death by...": "buufuu"; "unga-bunga"; "booda-booda"; and "chibi".]

ASIDE: the old joke goes for the Left and the GWOT, too: either we can have (a) a global war in which we are attacked by Jihadists, and we counter-attack, or (b) we can not counter-attack and have a global war in which we are attacked by Jihadists. The Left seems to want the latter - just like Abbas.