Saturday, July 26, 2003
Bush, Abbas collide over 'road map' obstacles - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics
President Bush seemed to make (mostly) the right noises yesterday after his meeting with President Abbas.
Abbas of course, tried to keep the focus on Israel. Can't show they've been defeated, after all - would be shameful.
"We have succeeded significantly, where Israel with its military might has failed, in reducing violence," added Mr. Abbas...
Bullshit, of course. I'm sure things looked more violent on his side of the fence, because Israel's responses have been having an effect on keeping things out of their side.
President Bush held fast to his central theme, and he doesn't seem to be buying the Palestinian spin, or sacrificing Israeli security for the sake of giving charity to Abu Mazen.
"I'm going to tell you point-blank that we must make sure that any terrorist activity is rooted out in order for us to be able to deal with these big issues," Mr. Bush told Mr. Abbas in a Rose Garden appearance.
"Nobody is going to accept a situation in which they become less secure, whether it be the Palestinian people or the Israeli people. Security is the essential roadblock to achieving the road map to peace."
While some might compain that he is likewarm on some issues, like the security fence, he's not actually doing anything about that, other than make grave noises. In the mean-time, the fence goes up.
President Bush was also giving no ground on the prisoner release issue.
"Surely nobody wants to let a cold-blooded killer out of prison that would help derail the process," Mr. Bush said. "I mean, after all, it doesn't make any sense if you've got somebody who is bent upon destroying lives and killing people in prison to, if you were to let him out, it would make it harder to achieve the peace we all want.
"And so I think it's very important to analyze the prisoner situation on a case-by-case basis."
Overall, I think it has to be viewed as a positive outcome for supporters of Israel.
