Abbas and Arafat are the same, the only difference is the name

Mohammed Abbas is co-opting Palestinian terror groups, calling Israel the "Zionist enemy" and assuring Palestinian "refugees" (most of whom have never set foot said Zionist enemy) that they have a "right of return" to Israel.

Michael Totten gets Abbas exactly right, but a few of his readers say he's just pandering to the extremists whose support he needs. (Also to spare his own life, although Hamas still considers Abbas too moderate.) Even if this is the case, what does it say about what Palestinian society has become, and what the inevitable Palestinian state will actually be like?

Update: Clifford May: "A moderate understands that it’s wrong to murder other people’s children. A pragmatist says, 'Well, there’s not much point in murdering other people’s children if it doesn’t get us what we want.'"

Unfortunately, there are plenty of pragmatic Palestinian leaders.

Posted by damian at January 4, 2005 01:23 PM