Abbas is wrong for the job

Letters

Editor: President Bush's proposed "road map" to peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict does not bode well for Israel with the appointment by Yasser Arafat of Abu Abbas (Mazan) as prime minister. The new leader does not meet the president's requirement of a leader not "compromised by terror."

How can Abbas be a credible peace partner, with his long standing relationship with Arafat, Fatah and the PLO in aiding and abetting his terrorist regime? This is the same man that advised Arafat not to accept the very generous offer of former prime minister Ehud Barak of 95 per cent of the land they sought in exchange for a final peace agreement with Israel.

Abbas has openly supported terror in all its forms, is a Holocaust denier and supports the Palestinian right of return as a strategy for destroying the Jewish state of Israel. It would be naive to believe that he can bring reform to the Palestinian Authority. Reform is only possible when a Palestinian prime minister is appointed that is truly not "compromised with terror," and has the authority to make peace with Israel independently, when the reign of terror has ended. It is also important that Palestinians must stop celebrating Saddam Hussein, the financier of terrorists, and his bestial execution of American POWs.

In my opinion, the Bush administration will be making a serious mistake, if it publishes the proposed "road map," creating yet another terrorist Arab state in the Middle East in the heart of Israel. It would serve only to continue the terror and threaten Israel's very existence.

Josh Basson
Seattle, Wa.

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