Number Three spits out the dust

In a moment of pessimism I gave it up for dead, but it stirs from its coma.  Let me explain.  Number Three in my Top Ten for 2004 was the death of Yasser Arafat - not that his death was important in itself.  No. Arafat was the main obstacle to peace between Palestine and Israel.  The importance of his death was that it was the removal of an obstacle to peace.  It presented a hope, but things looked pretty bleak for a while.  Palestinian terrorists initially stepped up their attacks, and it appeared that hope for peace was only that - hope.  But now things have quieted down.  Here's what they're saying over at the New York Times.

Could the Palestinians finally be figuring out how to get what they want...

Unlike his predecessor, Yasir Arafat, Mr. Abbas is cracking down on violence. He has ordered Palestinian security forces to fan out in northern Gaza to prevent militants from firing their homemade rockets and mortars at the Israelis. He has called such attacks "useless," and urged Palestinians to stop their intifada against Israel, which anyone with good sense knows has hurt the Palestinians even more than the Israelis. And Mr. Abbas is now negotiating with groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades. He is apparently closing in on a commitment from Hamas and Islamic Jihad for a monthlong truce.

It's the same at Haaretz.

Now along comes Abu Mazen, and he has already shown in his first week in office there is another way. His declarations condemning the armed intifada were not mere opposition whining but a firm worldview, which is now being translated into policy. Suddenly, it turns out that the Hamas and Islamic Jihad can be persuaded to stop the Qassam and mortar fire, even without an Israeli quid pro quo. Suddenly, it is possible to deploy the Palestinian security forces and order them to stop rocket fire. And suddenly, it appears that the calls to replace Arafat were not merely an Israeli excuse to continue the occupation and the settlements.

The Moscow Times talks about Abbas' crackdown on lawlessness. 

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- New President Mahmoud Abbas put teeth into his vow to crack down on lawlessness in Palestinian areas on Tuesday as bulldozers began demolishing buildings illegally built by militants and security men on public land.

Bulldozers swung into action in northern Gaza where 2,000 security forces deployed under Abbas's orders to prevent militant attacks on Israelis to help him revive peace talks. A de facto cease-fire has held in the region for a week.

Abbas, who on Monday ended a week of talks with Gaza militants in which he secured a sharp drop in violence although no formal truce, ordered the demolitions after touring the area and finding much rogue construction on public land.

Orders to remove such buildings had been ignored in the last years of Yasser Arafat's leadership in which militants, many linked to lawless elements of security services, took over the streets.

Hundreds of Palestinian policemen were deployed to protect the Palestinian Authority bulldozers as they started razing private buildings erected on public property in Gaza City.

More than just hope, there is reason for hope.

Afterthought:  I found it an odd piece of irony that there are Palestinian Authority bulldozers seeming to take over where the Israeli bulldozers left off.  I doubt we'll see any protesters trying to stand in front of them.

Comments

[Scott]

Yes.