REVIEW & OUTLOOK
An Arab Solution
Egypt, Jordan, the Saudis--and Palestine.
"There is no dialogue with these murderous terrorists." That's how Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, characterized his attitude toward Hamas after the radical Islamist party seized control of the Gaza Strip. For a holder of his office, this was a first: honest condemnation of behavior that everyone except Palestinians themselves--plus a few British news agencies--knows as "terrorism."
That condemnation will no doubt assuage concerns within the Bush Administration that the tens of millions of dollars it is now releasing to Mr. Abbas's government will be money well spent. It should think again. Mr. Abbas may have expelled Hamas from government, but the Fatah party he also leads has terrorist links of its own, not to mention a 40-year reputation for corruption. If "supporting Fatah" is now the Administration's policy, we are in for rougher times ahead.
This isn't to say that Mr. Abbas is himself corrupt or violent; President Bush was right when he recently described the Palestinian as "a reasonable voice among the extremists." The problem is that Mr. Abbas's voice has been weak, and his hand is now even weaker. After coming to power in January 2005 on the promise of "one authority, one law and one gun," Mr. Abbas refused to disarm Hamas, seeking instead to engage them in negotiations. A year later Hamas stormed to victory in parliamentary elections. Nor has Mr. Abbas done much to reform the Palestinian Authority or purge its most corrupt figures. On the contrary, most of Yasser Arafat's old fixers--unpopular figures such as Mohammad Dahlan and Jibril Rajoub--continue to hold positions of power with Mr. Abbas.
The Bush Administration nonetheless continued to funnel money to Mr. Abbas and Fatah after Hamas took control of parliament. Yet Fatah's troops were routed despite being better armed and far more numerous than Hamas. Why the same recipe that failed in Gaza should now work in the West Bank is anyone's guess. As historian Michael Oren noted in The Wall Street Journal last week, Mr. Abbas already pays the salaries of 60,000 soldiers, policemen and militiamen of various types. It's not as if they lack money or guns.
The U.S. might be better served if, instead of taking sides between unsavory factions in a Palestinian civil war, it began to call on its allies in the Arab world to show some leadership. Israel has more or less managed to contain the threat from Gaza for the time being. But Egypt, Gaza's other neighbor, also has much to fear from a terrorist movement with historic links to the Muslim Brotherhood and current links to Iran. At a minimum, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak must finally get serious about stopping the flow of arms from the Sinai to Gaza, something he has so far done half-heartedly at best.
Jordan, which has done a creditable job of policing its border against the infiltration of terrorists, might, with Israeli cooperation, establish a security presence within the West Bank, possibly with a view to reasserting its sovereignty over most of its former domain. The Lebanese government of Fuad Siniora could also help by dropping economic restrictions it imposes on Palestinian residents, which have contributed to the radicalism and violence of its refugee camps. Above all, the flow of Saudi money to violent Palestinian factions needs to be addressed and stopped.
All of this runs contrary to the State Department's efforts to make yet another big push toward establishing a Palestinian state. If events of recent days demonstrate nothing else, that idea has been laid to rest by the Palestinians themselves. What's needed here is another solution--an Arab solution.
