Israel Suspends all Ties with Palestinians
Israel suspends all ties with Palestinians (Haaretz)
Israel is suspending all contacts with the Palestinian Authority until it completes an investigation into Thursday’s deadly attack in the Karni crossing where six Israelis were killed, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s spokesman announced on Friday evening. Israel also expects the Palestinians to draw conclusions and decide on concrete operative action to rein in Palestinian militants, Assaf Shariv said. “Israel informed international leaders today that there will be no meetings with Abbas until he makes a real effort to stop the terror,” Shariv said.
He also said that Israel informed officials from the U.S., E.U Britain and the Palestinians. Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat confirmed this. “Sharon’s bureau called me this afternoon saying that they were suspending all contact with the Palestinian side,” Erekat said.
Shariv said Israel made the decision because the attack on the Gaza crossing was launched from a Palestinian Authority base. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said on Friday that the deadly attack could have been prevented by Palestinian Authority security services since the three attackers had to cross through a Palestinian checkpoint before reaching the Karni crossing.
Hardly surprising. If Abbas wants to pretend to run a state, then he has to be accountable for military actions originating from his territory. If he can’t stop the terrorists, there’s no point in negotiating with him, since he hasn’t the power to deliver what the Israelis need. If he can stop them but won’t, there’s also no point in negotiating with him.
It seems we’ve been here before.
Um, sorry, can someone please explain to me why Israel cannot negotiate while there is fighting going on? We did it in Korea, Vietnam. They did it in Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador. Are the chosen people just too good for this sort of thing or what? I mean, it’s good enough for everyone else eh?