Abbas Elected Chairman of Plo

[Larry_Oldtimer]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138260,00.html

Excerpts: RAMALLAH, West Bank — Mahmoud Abbas (search), a former prime minister and a veteran peace negotiator, was elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization on Thursday within hours of Yasser Arafat's death, putting him on a track to become the next overall leader of the Palestinians.

The 69-year-old Abbas, better known as Abu Mazen and who long worked in Arafat's shadow as the PLO's No. 2 official, takes the most powerful of the three titles Arafat held — president of the Palestinian Authority, leader of the Fatah movement and head of the PLO . . .

Abbas was one of the first top PLO officials to recognize Israel and distanced himself from terror activities. He led Palestinian negotiators in peace talks in the 1990s and has met with Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister . . .

Abbas has also been a critic of the armed conflict that emerged from the Palestinian uprising that began in September 2000. He said what happened "is a complete destruction of everything we built." (more)

So then, dare we hope for some sanity in the mideast now? :-\

[Lazarus]

There will be peace once one side or the other is victorious.

[Sparky26]

Doubtful, considering the PLO is still a terrorist organization. :)

[Observer]

The PLO may be a terrorist organization, but Abbas is not a terrorist. In all the years he has been active, I know of only one allegation of terrorist activity on his part. That was in 1972 and the person who made the allegation was very probably lying.

Abbas is smart. He is reasonable. He is willing to talk. He may very well be the best chance the Palestinians will ever have to achieve statehood.

[Jethro Tull]

If Abbas dares to show any sign of repudiating the Arafat legacy - "Israel must be destroyed" - he will be swiftly assassinated.

There are too many radical terrorist elements in the territories now, and their hate ideology has been tolerated and embraced for too long.

[Giancarlo]

Elected? He was appointed. He isn't a terrorist, but that's not the issue if he is or not. He's a very weak leader and we've seen him in power... he doesn't have a backbone.

[Lazarus]

"The legacy of Yasser Arafat, for those not brainwashed by his propaganda and that of his supporters, is one of murder, deceit and corruption. As part of its obituary, The New York Times said, 'Arafat led a long and failed effort for statehood' for the Palestinians. He did no such thing. Arafat led a long reign of terror, the purpose of which was to kill Jews and eliminate the state of Israel. Arafat never cared about a Palestinian state contiguous to Israel. The only Palestinian state he cared about was one that encompassed all of Israel. He said that repeatedly to his own people while he said something else to the West. Every Palestinian map was printed without Israel. Arafat proved his intentions by the terrorism he encouraged, including homicide bombers, whose families he paid out of funds that should have gone to help his 'people.' One list of Israeli fatalities caused by terrorism inspired and directed by Arafat just since the 1993 Oslo accords runs 47 single-spaced pages. In a statement on Arafat's death, the Vatican sounded as if it were speaking of Mother Teresa. The Vatican's chief spokesman referred to Arafat as 'the illustrious deceased' and asked God to grant eternal rest to his soul. Where is church-state separation when you really need it? The only 'resting' place Arafat will enjoy is a place in hell alongside his ideological and anti-Semitic idol, Adolph Hitler." --Cal Thomas

[Lazarus]

"It would take an encyclopedia to catalog all of the evil Arafat committed. But that is no excuse for not trying to recall at least some of it. Perhaps his signal contribution to the practice of political terror was the introduction of warfare against children. On one black date in May 1974, three PLO terrorists slipped from Lebanon into the northern Israeli town of Ma'alot. They murdered two parents and a child whom they found at home, then seized a local school, taking more than 100 boys and girls hostage and threatening to kill them unless a number of imprisoned terrorists were released. When Israeli troops attempted a rescue, the terrorists exploded hand grenades and opened fire on the students. By the time the horror ended, 25 people were dead; 21 of them were children. Thirty years later, no one speaks of Ma'alot anymore. The dead children have been forgotten. Everyone knows Arafat's name, but who ever recalls the names of his victims? So let us recall them: Ilana Turgeman. Rachel Aputa. Yocheved Mazoz. Sarah Ben-Shim'on. Yona Sabag. Yafa Cohen. Shoshana Cohen. Michal Sitrok. Malka Amrosy. Aviva Saada. Yocheved Diyi. Yaakov Levi. Yaakov Kabla. Rina Cohen. Ilana Ne'eman. Sarah Madar. Tamar Dahan. Sarah Soper. Lili Morad. David Madar. Yehudit Madar. The 21 dead children of Ma'alot -- 21 of the thousands of who died at Arafat's command." --Jeff Jacoby

[backlash]

Jeez. How could the PLO ignore their friends and allies? I thought sure Jimmy had a chance.

http://img91.exs.cx/img91/1998/arajimmy.jpg