Is it going to be the same ‘ol same ‘ol with a Palestinian leader — or is it for real this time:
RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) — Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday ordered Palestinian
security forces to stop attacks by Palestinian militants on Israelis.The move comes after a Palestinian attack Thursday on the Gaza-Israel border that killed six Israeli civilians.
Abbas
has ordered an investigation of the attack for which three Palestinian
militant groups — Hamas, the Popular Resistance and Al Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades — claimed responsibility.The use of Palestinian
security forces to rein in Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets has
long been a key sticking point in the Mideast peace process between the
Palestinian Authority and Israel.Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri
told The Associated Press that the group would not comply with the new
orders. "We consider resistance as a red line, and no one is allowed to
cross this line," al-Masri said, according to the AP.
So if Abbas is serious this will mean growing tensions with Hamas. But until some track record is established by him, "if" is a big word:
In 2003,
when Abbas was Palestinian prime minister, Israel and the United States
pressured him to persuade militants to end their attacks. But
Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat insisted on retaining
control over Palestinian security that might be used to rein in the
militants, On Saturday, Abbas was sworn in to replace Arafat, who died in November of an unknown illness.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.