Who Are You Abu Mazen?
By
Yoram Ettinger
JERUSALEM — The stronger the flow of Israeli and Western greetings
to the office of Abu Mazen, the weaker is the prospect for the
rise of a moderate Palestinian leadership, and the slimmer is
the chance for peace.
The US did not embrace Ben Laden’s and Saddam’s confidants and
deputies. The US demanded – and rightly so – the dismantling of
the entire terror regimes in Kabul and Baghdad as a prerequisite
for a new chapter in Afghanistan’s and Iraq’s international relations.
The elimination of rogue regimes has also been a pre-condition
for the willingness of moderate elements to stick their neck out
and enter the political arena.
A condition qua-non for fresh start in the attitude toward the
Palestinians, must be the uprooting of the "old regime",
which has earned the notoriety of role-model of hijacking, international
terrorism, inter-Arab treachery, systematic and brutal violation
of commitments, corruption, human rights violations, hate-education
and idolizing homicide bombers. The persistence of the old Palestinian
regime precludes the possibility that moderate Palestinian elements
would rise to power.
Abu Mazen was Arafat’s effective #2 since the departure of Abu
Jihad and Abu Iyaad. Abu Mazen has been recognized as Arafat’s
#2 since the 1993 signing of the Oslo Accord. Along with Abu Ala’,
Abu Mazen was an intimate of Arafat since the 1950s. Abu Mazen
did not emerge in the 2005 election from his underground hiding
or from exile overseas. Abu Mazen campaigned as the top loyalist
of Arafat, who was at his side during the rough days at the Ramalla’s
Muqaata. During the 1950s Abu Mazen starred – with Arafat and
Abu Ala’ – in the Palestinian cell of Cairo’s Muslim Brotherhood
(the mentor of Hamas!). There he acquired the skills and connections,
which have facilitated him engineering a series of understandings
with Hamas since 1993. According to the understandings, the strategic
common denominator between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas
(Israel’s elimination via the "claim of return") supersedes
their tactical disagreements. Therefore, Abu Mazen does not proceed
to eliminate Hamas, but rather attempts to integrate it. Therefore,
Abu Mazen disagreed sometimes with Arafat tactically, but never
disputed the strategy of Arafat, the founding father of the step-by-step
policy to destroy the Jewish State.
In 1959, Abu Mazen was a prominent member in the newly established
Fatah terror organization in Kuwait, which was the safe haven
for Arafat, Abu Mazen, Abu Ala’ and their colleagues, who had
to flee Egypt for subversive activities. In 1964 he joined Arafat
in the Syrian safe haven, but had to flee in 1966 along with his
leader, following the murder – by Fatah – of Syrian intelligence
officers. In 1970, Abu Mazen played a central role in the attempted
PLO coup against King Hussein, and during the 1970s he was a member
of the PLO leadership, which fueled a series of civil wars in
Lebanon and tried to topple the Beirut regime.
In
1972, Abu Mazen was responsible for raising the funds, required
for the Munich Massacre of 11 Israeli athletes.
He
acquired much of his subversive skills at the KGB headquarters
in Soviet Moscow, where he received (at Moscow University) his
Ph.D. on Holocaust Denial. No Western society would tolerate a
Holocaust denier holding a prominent position, but Abu Mazen has
been accorded respect…
Since 1993, Abu Mazen has been the second most important Palestinian,
forging the nature of the Palestinian society in general and its
hate-education in particular (in PA schools and kindergartens,
mosques and media), which has served as the manufacturing-line
of Palestinian homicide bombers. Abu Mazen has been a master of
double-talking and fork-tonguing. He has misled Israeli and Western
policy-makers and public opinion-molders by leveraging his non-Arafat
appearance: well shaved face, trendy ties, grandpa-like looks
and a seemingly moderate rhetoric (when addressing Westerners).
Israeli and Western movers and shakers have been inclined to sacrifice
a 50 year old track record on the altar of the wishful thinking,
which has sanctified Oslo and its offshoots (Hebron and Wye Accords,
Road Map and Disengagement). A US colloquialism states: "Fool
me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." Abu Mazen
and his colleagues have fooled Israel and the US since 1993. Are
Israel and the US intent upon earning the dubious title of "Suckers
of the globe"?