Mostly a great interview
Reader comment on item: Pipes criticises Middle East leaders

Submitted by Mike L. (United States), Feb 13, 2005 at 11:18

It seems to me that there's a hole (not an error) in the argument structure. We all know that the main short-term impediment to diplomacy moving ahead is the propensity for the radical rejectionists, Hamas and PIJ, to attack Israeli towns to indicate their disagreement with the PA. No Israeli government can tolerate this situation for very long, and recognizing that, Abbas seems to have made it clear that there are new rules to that game.

The hole in the structure is what happens to the radical rejectionists in the immediate term. Will they be kept in check? If so, how?

My guess is that they will be kept in check (and by that I mean, kept to a level of violence that the Israeli government can tolerate) and it will be done by Abbas increasingly making them a part of the PA political process and consequently, making it difficult for them to act as outsiders. To do this he has to a) give them a stake in the legitimacy of that process, and b) enforce, as needed, the PA's claim to a substantial monopoly of force within the territories.

If he can do this successfully, it might go some distance in reducing that 80% belief "that the destruction of Israel is a worthy goal," to the extent that some of those holding the belief hold it as a response to the PA's impotence as much as for any other reason.

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