Israel waits for Abbas to act

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Israelis cut all ties with Palestinians
By Steven Erlanger, The New York Times

JERUSALEM Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Friday ordered all Israeli officials to cut ties with the Palestinian Authority and said the Gaza Strip would be sealed until Palestinian leaders act to curb terrorism, a day after militants killed six Israelis on the Gaza border.
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"The prime minister has instructed all members of the government to cease all contact with the Palestinian Authority until they take the necessary steps to curb and stop terrorism," said Ranaan Gissin, a senior aide to Sharon. "We are suspending contacts until they investigate this incident and bring to justice those who planned it and take real steps to stop terrorism."
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Any meeting between Sharon and the newly elected Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, would have to wait for the Palestinian security forces to move against the militants, Gissin said.
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"This will send a very clear and unequivocal message to the Palestinians," he said. "Where are the Palestinian preventive-security forces? They need to deploy and present themselves on the ground in Gaza to prevent such actions." The attack Thursday night appeared to have been coordinated with Palestinian security forces around the Karni terminal, Gissin said.

Time for Abbas to put up, or shut up. Israel is wise to throw the responsibility of control of Palestinian terrorists back into the newly elected leader's hands before going forth with talks of peace.

But the world may have to wait longer than anyone hopes. Abbas still has given no pledge to fight his own terrorists.

(snip) His (Abbas) avowed policy of negotiation rather than confrontation with Palestinian terrorists – aimed at best at a temporary ceasefire - is taken to mean he would rather confront Israel than get to grips with the terrorists organizations, even though at least one member of the new front, the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, is part of his own Fatah.

Israel, to it's credit, avoided the standard military response to the latest murders at the Karni border terminal, instead cutting off all diplomatic contacts as a signal to Abbas. The assault was coordinated and executed by no less than seven Palestinian terror groups.

While Israeli ministers bandied words, the new terror front set up by seven Palestinian terrorist groups - with a heavy increment of security personnel on the Palestinian Authority’s payroll - launched a full-scale military operation at the Karni terminal.

According to DEBKAfile’s military experts, more than 100 people prepared and participated in the attack. (snip)

In response to the latest violence, Abbas emulated Arafat with the expected lip service ... condeming both the Palestinian assaults in the same breath as Israel responses. Fat load of good that does in the scheme of things.

But any meeting between the two has more problems ahead than justAbbas' reining in his own terrorists. The long list of concessions he has demanded from Israel merely for a meeting loom also looms large as a major roadblock.