<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4611.1300" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>Mr. Middle East Expert tossed a rather ripe one today. After plowing through his typical condemnation of Palestinian moral failings (while keeping his criticism of Israel on tactical ground), Mr. Expert lets this one go:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"In a Yediot Ahronot poll released Friday, two-thirds of Israelis were critical of Mr. Sharon's tactic of targeted assassinations of Hamas officials and said they wanted Mr. Abbas to be given a chance to establish his authority.</DIV> <DIV> <P>"It may be that Mr. Abbas can't step up to this. It may be that the Palestinians are capable only of self-destructive revenge, rather than constructive restraint and reconciliation."</P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=2><</FONT><A href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/15/opinion/15FRIE.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/15/opinion/15FRIE.html</A><FONT face=Arial size=2>></FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </P> <P>This is incredible, on par with Martin Peretz's claim that Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular are genetically pre-disposed to violence ("for which no one is to blame," he added, letting New Republic readers off the hook). Recall that it was the PLO that observed the Habib ceasefire in 1981, after several years of promoting a two-state settlement with Israel. This caused a "peace scare" among Israelis like Sharon, who had and have no intention of allowing Palestinians equal rights in their Judea and Samaria. Thus, Israel began firing missiles into Lebanon, trying to get the PLO to respond. Once the PLO did, this was the pretext for the full scale Israeli invasion in '82. It was Israel, not the Palestinian leadership, that broke the ceasefire. And surely Mr. Expert knows this, 'cause he was there (and did some good reporting). So his statement about the lack of Palestinian "constructive restraint" is historically false -- I think intentionally so. </P> <P>It was around this time that Israel began encouraging Palestinian Islamic groups to take arms against the Fatah wing of the Palestinian movement, which was secular. The moderation of the PLO led to the rise of Hamas, all under the eyes of Israeli intelligence. So, again, it appears that it was the Israelis, not the PLO, who were afraid of a just peace (to the degree one was possible), and that they were willing to fuel the Islamic extremists rather than map out two-states with Palestinians openly ready to sit down with them. </P> <P>If anyone was self-destructive, it was Israel. </P> <P>DP</P> <P> </P></DIV></BODY></HTML>