17 January 2005

Still Cracking Down

Following up on this post from yesterday: Wow. I think that Abbas might just be serious.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas ordered his security forces Monday to try to prevent attacks against Israel and to investigate a shooting at a Gaza Strip crossing that killed six Israeli civilians last week.

However, Palestinian officials would not provide details of the order, and it was unclear how it would be translated into action, if at all. Abbas insists he will use persuasion, not force, to rein in armed groups.

The last item worries me, as I'm not sure that Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade, et cetera, understand anything but force. The fact that he's doing anything, though, is astounding. To the best of my knowledge, this is already more than Yasser Arafat ever did, and the fact that he's using the security forces in an attempt to prevent attacks is nothing short of astonishing.

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