"Bush Rolls the Dice with Abu Mazen"

Christians Standing with Israel

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ARTICLES BY
MIKAEL KNIGHTON

Keywords: Roadmap for Peace * Middle East Peace * Mahmoud Abbas * Abu Mazen * Quartet Israel * Gaza withdrawal * Ariel Sharon * Palestinian * Palestinian state * Israeli occupation *

"Bush Rolls the Dice with Abu Mazen"

"Bush Rolls the Dice with Abu Mazen"
by Mikael Knighton abu-mazen
Christians Standing with Israel

It is a very dangerous game played by every Commander-in-Chief who has walked the West Wing since Truman: rolling the dice for Middle East Peace. It seems each U.S. president wishes to be "that president" who was finally able to facilitate a lasting peace between the Israelis and her Arab neighbors. No U.S. president--from Truman to Bush--has come even remotely close to achieving such an objective.

If past is prologue, no U.S. president ever will.

On paper, as well as record, the United States has become notorious, with few exceptions, for its support of Israel. We were, in fact, the first country to recognize the Jewish state only minutes after she came into "official" existence in May of 1948. However, our strategic interests in the Middle East--which, unfortunately, shape our foreign policy--have dictated that we are a nation predisposed to pursuing Israel's "best interests" only when they meet cohesively with our own. The result is an extremely capricious, U.S. foreign policy in the region, and one that often compromises the national security of the Jewish state.

Five years ago, President George W. Bush stood in the Rose Garden and affirmed his commitment to the establishment of a "Palestinian" state alongside Israel. He later would dedicate his second term to such an objective. In his speech, Bush stated the following:

"I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror. I call upon them to build a practicing democracy, based on tolerance and liberty. If the Palestinian people actively pursue these goals, America and the world will actively support their efforts."

"...The Palestinian people are gifted and capable, and I am confident they can achieve a new birth for their nation. A Palestinian state will never be created by terror -- it will be built through reform."

This president insisted that a democratically-elected, "Palestinian" government alongside Israel would open the door to peace in the Middle East--and Gaza held the key that would unlock it. Of no secret is Bush's public praise of Ariel Sharon's complete disengagement from all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip in August, 2005. After meeting with the Israeli PM at his Crawford ranch in April of 2005, President Bush praised Sharon's disengagement proposal as "a bold step and a courageous step", and lauded Sharon for "..showing strong, visionary leadership by difficult steps to improve the lives of people across the Middle East." While praising the Israeli PM publicly for his land concessions, Bush admonished Sharon for his proposals for land expansion in Judea and Samaria, stating, "I've been very clear about Israel has an obligation under the road map. That's no expansion of settlements."

History shows us instances in which U.S. foreign policy directly conflicted with Israel's national security. Hindsight shows us the results.

Bush got his wish. Following the complete, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in August of 2005, the "Palestinians", indeed, held new elections--democratic elections. Democracy in the Middle East showed signs of expanding beyond the government of Israel. Perhaps, Bush was onto something.

Or, was he?

Where Bush was merited in calling on the "Palestinians" to hold democratic elections, he was exponentially misguided in assuming said elections would beget democracy, as a lawless band of terrorist thugs--Hamas--found themselves sweeping the Gaza elections in January of 2006. The rest is murderous history. In its second year, the new government in Gaza--the democratically-elected Hamas--have brought nothing to its people except death, lawlessness, poverty, and civil war. In said time period, Gaza has experienced a complete, socioeconomic collapse, while rocket firings into southern Israel have increased exponentially since Hamas--the people's choice--assumed power. In so doing, it gave the world a sneak peak of what the reality of a "Palestinian" state, as it were, would look like.

And so, while Bush still believes, even as recent as this week, that a "Palestinian state will never be created by terror", he remains oblivious to one, historical reality: a terrorist state will always be created by "Palestinians".

Earlier this week, Bush affirmed his increased commitment to the Quartet's "Roadmap for Peace", and, in the process, confirmed our worst fears: he's learned absolutely nothing. Even more concerning, Bush has recently authorized the transfer of millions of dollars in foreign aid into the hands of a cold-blooded terrorist and Holocaust denier--one for whom Bush has vouched as "a man dedicated to peace": Abu Mazen (aka Mahmoud Abbas). Regarding Abbas, Bush stated the following:

"I'm impressed by Prime Minister Abbas' vision of a peaceful Palestinian state. I believe him when he says that we must rout out terror in order for a Palestinian state to exist. I believe he's true. I think Mr. Dahlan, his Security Chief, also recognizes that."

"I believe President Abbas wants there to be a state that will live in peace with Israel."

However, a further examination of history--apparently one not taken into account by the Bush administration--paints a much darker picture of Abu Mazen; one that is hardly synonymous with "peace". Once Yasser Arafat's top deputy, it was Mazen who allegedly financed the Black September massacre during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.

It was Abu Mazen who authored the doctoral dissertation, and eventual book, "The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and the Zionist Movement", in which he alleged that the elimination of the Jews was a direct result of a collaboration between Nazism and the Zionist movement, stating the following:

"the Zionist movement led a broad campaign of incitement against the Jews living under Nazi rule, in order to arouse the government’s hatred of them, to fuel vengeance against them, and to expand the mass extermination."

In his book, Mazen also challenged the numbers of Jews killed, downplaying it to "only a few hundred thousand", and not the six million recorded by historical record.

It was Mazen who, earlier this year, made the following statement--one that affirms his desire to "live in peace with Israel":

"We have a legitimate right to direct our guns against Israeli occupation."
- Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas)

It was Abu Mazen who, following the talks at Camp David, claimed it is the right of all "Palestinians" to "return to Israel and not to the Palestinian state ... because it is from there that [the Palestinians] were driven out and it is there that their property is found." Clearly, these are statements made by a man "dedicated to living at peace with Israel." President Bush's public praising of Mazen's "vision of a peaceful, Palestinian state" is enough to call his very sanity into question.

In what could easily be construed as a desperate move to facilitate his becoming "that president who finally brought peace to the Middle East", Bush has proved willing to see only that which lies on the surface, and overlook the underlying realities--all of which share one common denominator: There will never be peace between Israel and the "Palestinians", since the very name, "Palestinian", is indicative of an "illegal Israeli presence" in a land called, "Palestine", as it were.

Bush is "rolling the dice" in a game he has no business playing; one he cannot win. He's placed all bets on Abu Mazen as his "Palestinian" point man for peace and, in so doing, is sure to roll "snake eyes", every time.

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Bush Rolls the Dice with Abu Mazen