Palestinian leader Abbas cannot make peace

Lest you have forgotten, Samir Kuntar murdered a father in front of his daughter — then murdered the daughter — in Israel in 1979. If you have forgotten the gory details, we shall not remind you. We shall say this:

We do not believe that Mahmoud Abbas, current head of the Palestinian Authority, is a “partner for peace.”

We do not believe that there will ever, ever be peace between Israel and the Palestinians with Abbas as the head of the PA. We believe that current negotiations with Abbas leading to a “two state solution” are purely a pipedream.

We see no difference between Abbas and Hamas. Here is why:

Israel recently released Samir Kuntar in exchange for dead Israelis. We shall not revisit the wisdom of that release. We shall note that on a recent visit to Beirut, Mahmoud Abbas requested a meeting with Kuntar! He wanted to meet the former member of the Palestine Liberation Front serving multiple life terms for murder.

We shall note that upon Kuntar’s release, Abbas congratulated him.

We shall note that upon Kuntar’s release, Abbas’ Fatah party organized a celebration for him.

We shall note that various advisors to Abbas and members of his government have variously called Kuntar’s release “an historic victory over Israeli arrogance” and other such exaltations.

We shall note that upon the death of Dr. George Habash, an unrepentant terrorist who found Yasir Arafat too moderate, Abbas said: “The death of this historic leader is a great loss for the Palestinian cause and for the Palestinian people for whom he fought for 60 years.”

Leaders from Bill Clinton on down discounted exactly this kind of rhetoric by Yasir Arafat as inconsequential for peace efforts — as “for domestic consumption only.” That’s why Clinton, and many Jewish leaders to boot, elevated Arafat to a “partner for peace” in 1993 as he signed the Oslo Accords.

To us, a murderer and a person who praises murderers is not, never was, and never will be a “partner for peace.” Clinton, his senior Middle East advisor Dennis Ross, Yitzhak Rabin and others found this out the hard way. Eight years, and countless innocent Israeli and Arab lives, were wasted on the Oslo Accords.

No one should think that it will be any different with Mahmoud Abbas. Seekers of peace do not seek meetings with unrepentant terrorists to congratulate them. That’s not “for domestic consumption.” That’s Abbas’ gut. He cannot make peace any more than Arafat could.