'The Great Palestinian Hope'

Eric Trager notes that Abbas has joined in with the praise of the murderer, Samir Kuntar:

During his three-and-a-half-year tenure as Palestinian Authority president, the Bush administration has constantly given Mahmoud Abbas the benefit of doubt for each of his costly failures. This is because Abbas has long represented the Great Palestinian Hope–the tie-wearing, post-Arafat diplomat who, if just given enough support, might reign in terrorist organizations, achieve peace with Israel, and bolster a somewhat imagined Arab front against Iran. In this vein, virtually every Abbas faux pas–his conditions-free ceasefires with Hamas, his insistence on including Hamas in the parliamentary elections, and Fatah’s miserable performance during the 2007 Gaza coup–has been excused as the consequence of political weakness that is simply beyond Abbas’s control.

Well, here’s something that’s very much within Abbas’s control: his mouth.

Trager refers to Abbas as 'The Great Palestinian Hope'--the last great chance to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs. Heaven help us all if this is the best the Palestinians can come up with.

They deserve better.
And so does Israel.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Abbas.