Reach for Your Gun

The White House is asking Congress for $86 million to arm Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It's like deciding that every Texan needs a second rifle in his pick-up truck. Let's face it... every Palestinian who is in the mood to shoot someone (and there are many) already has a gun, or an arsenal of primo weapons he is now lifting out of a cache under the floorboards. Thank you, Mr President. But there is no shortage of guns among Palestinians.

Today I met an erudite Palestinian, a scholar and a democrat, who once believed in America. Now he is convinced that the Bush Administration wants to provoke a civil war among Palestinian --anything to get rid of Hamas, the party of Islamic militants that won last January's elections that the White House insisted on having. Oops. The sad truth, my friend tells me, is that no amount of weapons is going to help Abbas win over the Palestinians.

For many Palestinians, Abbas is tainted. He sold himself to the Israelis and the Americans and got nothing in return. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert invited Abbas over for a meal recently. He kissed the Palestinian on both cheeks and promised to lift some of the 400 plus security roadblocks which torment the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank. Olmert also promised to hand over $100 million in funds that belongs to the cash-strapped Palestinians. So far, the money is still in Israel's pocket and only a few roadblocks have vanished. Once again, Abbas is left looking like a dupe.

More guns aren't going to help Abbas in his showdown with Hamas militants. He's a hollow man. The Israelis know this, the Palestinians certainly know it, and the only people who don't, it seems, are in Washington. And yet they insist on giving him loads more weapons.
by Tim McGirk/Jerusalem