Mahmoud Abbas

[Chilidog]

Is this a good thing?
Is he a a conservative a moderate or a terrorist like Arafat?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/4160171.stm

(in part)

Interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has won a landslide victory in Sunday's presidential election to succeed the late Yasser Arafat.
Preliminary official results show that Mr Abbas won 62.3% of the vote on a turnout of about 66%.

His main rival Mustafa Barghouti got 19.8%. Admitting defeat, he said it was a victory for Palestinian democracy.

Israel has welcomed the result and urged Mr Abbas to clamp down on militant Palestinian groups.

"The main focus at this stage... should be Palestinian action on terror," said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a statement.

MAHMOUD ABBAS
Moderate head of main political faction Fatah
Seen as someone Israel will talk to
Willing to talk peace with Israel
Wants end to Palestinian armed uprising
Pledges to stick to key positions of late Yasser Arafat


Profile: Mahmoud Abbas
Reaction to Palestinian poll

"He [Mr Abbas] will be tested by the way he battles terror and acts to dismantle its infrastructure," Mr Sharon said.

Mr Abbas has indicated he wants to meet Mr Sharon as soon as possible.

Israeli officials say Mr Sharon is prepared to hold security talks with the new Palestinian leader, but full-scale peace negotiations will have to wait.

US President George W Bush has said he will invite Mr Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen) to Washington - something he refused to do with his predecessor, the late Yasser Arafat.

"I offer my congratulations to Abu Mazen. I look forward to talking to him at the appropriate time. I look forward to welcoming him here to Washington if he chooses to come here," Mr Bush said.

He noted Mr Abbas had been elected with "a good-size majority".

Earlier, Mr Bush said it was, along with upcoming parliamentary polls, "essential for the establishment of a sovereign, independent, viable, democratic and peaceful Palestinian state that can live alongside a safe and secure Israel".

Should this man be trusted to put a stop to the terrorist attacks in Isreal?

[Aught Six]

Should this man be trusted to put a stop to the terrorist attacks in Isreal?

He may be the new Palestinian leader, but not all Palestinians are willing to be led. He doesn't maintain authority over fringe terrorist groups (as opposed to "mainstream" terrorists like the PLO), so I would expect attacks to continue so long as there are Jews in the region.

Whether or not he is truly devoted to peace remains to be seen. He has shown that he is a moderate next to people like Arafat, but that doesn't mean he should be trusted right off the bat. I'm hoping for the best, but we're still a long way from that.

[FroMan]

A good thing?

Doubt it...the man is probably for everything I'm against. And against everything I'm for.

Plus, I'm sure he hates Jews.

[headhunter300win]

Its just a matter of time till sh*t hits the fan, hes gonna piss somebody off im sure.

[Chilidog]

I would like to be optimistic about Abbas but after reading his bio information that is difficult. He has a history of aligning himself with terror. Although he is considered a liberal, moderate or dove in the PLO, he is still a terrorist leader and one of the founders of Al Fatah.
Looking back at the most recent attempts at peace by those with which he associates himself exposes the shallow depth of the meaning of their word in their culture.
On Sept. 13, 1993, at the White House the Oslo accords was signed. There was the famous handshake between Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin. Then came the intifada and 1000"™s dead later we have to wonder what it meant.
Arafat is dead, Mahmoud Abbas successes him, and the world embraces Abbas???
This is how President-to-be Abbas has been campaigning at home?

*Dec. 30: Abbas, appearing in Jenin, is hoisted on the shoulders of Zakaria Zbeida, a notorious and wanted al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorist. Abbas declares that he will protect all terrorists from Israel.

Dec. 31: Abbas reiterates his undying loyalty to Arafat's maximalist demands: complete Israeli withdrawal to the 1949 armistice lines, Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital, and -- the red-flag deal-breaker -- the ``right of return,'' which would send the millions of Palestinians abroad not to their own country of Palestine but to Israel in order to destroy it demographically.

Jan. 1: Abbas declares that he will never crack down on Palestinian terrorism.

Jan. 4: Abbas calls Israel ``the Zionist enemy.'' That phrase is so odious that only Hezbollah and Iran and others openly dedicated to the extermination of Israel use it.

What of Abbas' vaunted opposition to violence? On Jan. 2 he tells Hamas terrorists firing rockets that maim and kill Jewish villagers within Israel, ``This is not the time for this kind of act.'' This is an interesting ``renunciation'' of terrorism: Not today, boys; perhaps later, when the time is right. Which was exactly Arafat's utilitarian approach to terrorism throughout the Oslo decade.
* from Charles Kraulthammers op ed.

I do not trust this man.