"Parallel Steps" - Same Singer, Same Tune. Still Off-Key.
Dennis Ross is back, and he knows how to get the peace process moving: Israel should make concessions to strengthen Palestinian moderates:
Certainly, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is committed to stopping the violence... He put together an understanding with them for a tahdiya (period of calm), which - plainly - has been less than perfect.
In fairness to Ross, it's only been less than perfect by a few deadly rocket attacks, some weapons smuggling, a couple of roadside bombs, and a suicide bomber. So that's only slightly less than perfect.
And since Hamas has always said that their ceasefire will only last till December 2005, the rush to give the Palestinians more concessions to exploit seems a little... misguided.
Abbas will only change his strategy and become more decisive if he feels his authority is growing. To give him such confidence he must be able to show that his way - the way of non-violence - is paying off. To date, he has had little to show his public as life for the most part has not improved. He will need help, not as a substitute for what he must do, but in parallel with the steps he must take.
"In parallel with the steps he must take" means - and, especially when Ross was in charge of Oslo, has always meant - "Israel has to make concessions while the Palestinians 'try' to decrease terrorism". It's amazing how quickly he falls back into the old way of thinking: "Palestinians exploit Israeli concessions to increase violence? Make more concessions to strengthen the moderates!" Except it's not just "strengthen the moderates" - now we're back to "get the moderates to change". And how do we know they want to change? Because despite all of their actions, they've told us so!
Again, American officials can look hard-line by demanding that the Palestinians stop terrorism over and over again - but until Israeli concessions are actually conditioned on Palestinian actions, then all of their demands are just window-dressing for the weakening of Israeli security. Parallel steps is a euphemism for letting the Palestinians get away with murder.
[Cross-posted on IsraPundit]
Certainly, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is committed to stopping the violence... He put together an understanding with them for a tahdiya (period of calm), which - plainly - has been less than perfect.
In fairness to Ross, it's only been less than perfect by a few deadly rocket attacks, some weapons smuggling, a couple of roadside bombs, and a suicide bomber. So that's only slightly less than perfect.
And since Hamas has always said that their ceasefire will only last till December 2005, the rush to give the Palestinians more concessions to exploit seems a little... misguided.
Abbas will only change his strategy and become more decisive if he feels his authority is growing. To give him such confidence he must be able to show that his way - the way of non-violence - is paying off. To date, he has had little to show his public as life for the most part has not improved. He will need help, not as a substitute for what he must do, but in parallel with the steps he must take.
"In parallel with the steps he must take" means - and, especially when Ross was in charge of Oslo, has always meant - "Israel has to make concessions while the Palestinians 'try' to decrease terrorism". It's amazing how quickly he falls back into the old way of thinking: "Palestinians exploit Israeli concessions to increase violence? Make more concessions to strengthen the moderates!" Except it's not just "strengthen the moderates" - now we're back to "get the moderates to change". And how do we know they want to change? Because despite all of their actions, they've told us so!
Again, American officials can look hard-line by demanding that the Palestinians stop terrorism over and over again - but until Israeli concessions are actually conditioned on Palestinian actions, then all of their demands are just window-dressing for the weakening of Israeli security. Parallel steps is a euphemism for letting the Palestinians get away with murder.
[Cross-posted on IsraPundit]
