HOLY LAND: PALESTINIANS HAVE ABSOLVED THEMSELVES OF THE NEED TO FIGHT TERROR

Palestinians Absolved Themselves of Need to Fight Terror, Israel Says
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com
Jerusalem Bureau Chief
February 21, 2007

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - The Palestinians have absolved themselves of the need to fight terrorism, an Israeli official said on Wednesday, one day after Israeli security forces thwarted what could have been a huge terror attack.

The foiled bombing comes just two days after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in a three-way meeting in Jerusalem.

Rice and Abbas were in Berlin on Wednesday for separate talks with world leaders on the deal that Abbas cut with Hamas on forming a national unity government. The guidelines of the government have not been finalized, but so far, Hamas has refused to submit to international demands that it recognize Israel, end violence and terrorism, and keep past Israeli-Palestinian accords.

The deal has cast a shadow over U.S. (and Israeli) attempts to bolster Abbas (Abu Mazen) and those loyal to him as a "moderate" force against extremist Hamas, which is on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations."

The agreements between Hamas and Abu Mazen disappoint all who supported separating the extremists from the moderates and creating an alternative government in the Palestinian Authority," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Tuesday.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Palestinians Absolved Themselves of Need to Fight Terror, Israel Says