Palestine and the Middle East

Sen. Joe Biden has an interesting op-ed piece in the LA Times. He argues that the US and others should support Abu Abbas in the near term since he represents the best chance for a lasting peace in the region. Sen. Biden also recognizes that much of the militarism in the West Bank and Gaza is being funded by Iran and Syria.

Frankly, Base10 doesn't know what to make of the current situation. Abbas is portrayed as a moderate. Now that he has ascended to the Fatah leadership, the press has been all over him. See this, this and this. (Of course not all agree, see this about the other face of Abbas). It is of course easy to be sceptical when Palestinian politics as usual basically involves the use of automatic weapons.

Even Hamas has alternatively supported peace, rejected peace and agreed to peace in "principle."

Base10 tends to agree with George Will. He suggested that real peace will only hold when a thorough de-nazification occurs in Palestine.

The only thing that's certain is that peace has a better chance now than it did when Arafat was alive. Let's hope this doesn't all fall to nothing and at least the journey begins. Base10 thinks there's going to be some sort of civil war between Fatah and Hamas. It's inevitable. The Hamas religious miltiants have already established themselves as a de facto government in Gaza. They are not going to go lie down for Fatah when they're getting funding from Iranian and Egyptian extremists. The West should support Abbas, and hope the civil war isn't too bloody. But don't bet on it.
- posted by Base10 @ 6:26 PM