03 October 2005

Still Trying

Well, at least this is encouraging.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- After two postponed meetings, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed Sunday to hold a summit "soon," according to a news release from prime minister's office.

The two leaders were to have met Sunday, but the talks were called off when Israel canceled the preparatory meeting last Sunday after fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants increased.

Abbas called Sharon on Sunday afternoon "to wish the prime minister a good and successful New Year," according to the statement.

Sharon responded with a salutation about Ramadan, and "the two leaders expressed the hope that the New Year will be more successful, as well as a year of peace and hope. They agreed to enhance cooperation between them and to work together in order to advance the process.

Cautious optimism is overrated, but I think it's important to stress just how much progress has been made in the last year. If we were still dealing with Yasser Arafat, Arafat probably would have observed Rosh Hashanah by torching an Israeli flag, firing an AK-47 into the air, and shouting racist epithets into a crowd of like-minded thugs. The fact that President Mahmoud Abbas is not only an elected official, but is civil enough to call Prime Minister Sharon and wish him a happy Rosh Hashanah is a quantum leap in the peace process; and even though Hamas and Islamic Jihad and all the other thugs are still up to their old tricks, and even though President Abbas has been unable to truly crack down on those groups, the drastic change is important, and it's equally important to acknowledge that it's there. To paraphrase one of my hunting buddies, who was at the time talking about the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger to the governorship of California:

"The glass is half full, as opposed to being empty and broken like it was before."

He actually said eighty percent full, but you get the picture. At any rate, let's hope they're able to have their meeting soon, and that it's a productive one. In the meantime, Israel should keep up air strikes after terrorist attacks, and Abbas should keep trying to bring civilization to Gaza.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home