Sunday, December 28, 2008

'Hamas could have prevented massacre'

Dec. 28, 2008 Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

Hamas could have prevented the "massacre" in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday in Cairo.

"We spoke to them and told them 'Please, we ask you not to end the cease-fire. Let it continue,'" Abbas said during a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. "We want to protect the Gaza Strip. We don't want it to be destroyed." Abbas called on Hamas to renew the cease-fire with Israel to avoid further bloodshed in Gaza.

Aboul Gheit also attacked Hamas, saying the group had prevented people wounded in the Israeli offensive from passing into Egypt to receive medical attention.

"We are waiting for the wounded Palestinians to reach Egypt. They aren't being allowed to go through," he said.

Asked who was to blame for the dire situation in Gaza, the foreign minister replied: "Ask the party that controls Gaza."

He added that the meeting of Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo Wednesday should call on Hamas to extend the truce.
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Comment: Abbas is playing on both sides on the street. He knows that our actions against Hamas will benefit him-the fact is we are doing for him what he never could do-weaken Hamas significantly. Take note where he is when he makes this pronouncement-he is in Egypt, yet another signal from an Arab country re: their lack of support for Hamas. Both Hamas and their benefactors are receiving a message. Now this is a dangerous game to play and it is a calculated risk. Finally, Abbas' use of "massacre" is for his Palestinians and the irrational leftists around the world!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your comment is well put regarding so called disproportionate response..."Genug ist genug" as my mom would say...indeed. What ought to happen is for the Palestianians themselves to arrest all Hamas fanatics and put them where they cannot foment war. After that, a democratic election and independence of the two regions into a country which can then (maybe someday) be a peaceful neighbor of Israel which trades goods and not rockets. Why do I not think this will happen soon? Why do Palestinians continually make bad choices? Why did they support Saddam Hussein? Why indeed. Maybe they get too much sun.