We received a text message from Mattan about the killing at the religious academy while having dinner on the south coast of Sicily.
It led me to think further about the comments a week earlier by Mahmoud Abbas, that Israel's activity in Gaza was "worse than the Holocaust," and had been prompted by the minor disturbances of a few rockets.
The killings at the academy were dramatic indications of a crucial difference between the IDF's actions and the Holocaust. The Jews of Europe were killed in industrial fashion because they were Jews, without any threat of violence against the German people. Experts quarrel about the number of Jews killed. Six million is a round number based on estimates. Research has produced different figures, none of them exact or beyond dispute. The statement in Abbas' doctoral dissertation, of less than one million, is so far beneath serious calculations as to approach the concept of Holocaust denial. His comment about a Holocaust against the Palestinians came in the context of military operations that killed 120, at a time when 50 rockets per day were falling on Israel.
Can Israel hope for any accommodation with a polity led by someone like Abbas? Rather than a serious statesman or politician, he recalls the label that a Palestinian student applied to Yassir Arafat early in the most recent intafada: a "dead man walking." From other comments it was possible to understand him as saying that the corruption of Arafat and his colleagues rendered them unfit for national leadership; and that Arafat's waffling between pronouncements about making peace and encouraging violence would make it likely that Israel would punish the Palestinians far more than the Palestinians could punish the Israelis, and end the Palestinian aspirations of nationhood.
Abbas' statements about Holocausts, both 30 years ago and now, make him more than a poor judge of history or current events. By cheapening the Holocaust he is ridiculing a central piece of Israel's memory and culture. His comments make it impossible to rely on him as a partner in discussions where his principal mission is to demand that Israel take risks for the prospect of peace, against a century of Arab violence.
It is not only statements that make Abbas a dead man walking. When he was in nominal control of Gaza with some 30,000 security personnel funded by European and American government donations, he did not stop a small number of men and boys firing homemade rockets from a small section of that small area. Since Abbas' control has been limited to the West Bank, where he has another 30,000 security personnel funded by European and American governments, he has not prevented the organization and arming of gangs intent on violence against Israelis. When killers have surrendered to Palestinian authorities in preference to being pursued by Israeli forces, Abbas' justice system has been assiduous in demanding proof of their guilt, and generous in sentencing them to house arrest which turns out to be casual in the extreme.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni continue to speak of Abbas with respect, to welcome him for discussions, to smile and touch cheeks when they meet.
Is this anything more than lip service to their patron George W. Bush? Or a fig leaf to the Israeli Labor Party and other moderate leftists who aspire to peace no matter what the odds? Or is a recognition that Abbas is the best that the Palestinians can offer as a leader. Without him they are likely to enter a period of political chaos likely to worsen the problems in their security services and other activities. Olmert has been measured in his optimism. He is not counting on an agreement during the Bush presidency. Occasionally he talks about agreements in principle, while waiting on their implementation until the Palestinians prove that they are serious about meeting Israel's demands for security.
At least some of Olmert's colleagues in the government are likely to vote against any kind of potential agreement that the prime minister can achieve. It is easy to foresee that international actors will hold Israel to its side of the bargain even if it explicitly postpones implementation, while they excuse Palestinian lack of compliance as reflecting the problems of a weak entity. Palestinians will insist that subsequent discussions will start with the details of the potential agreement announced by Olmert, and then demand further concessions.
We tried to ignore these issues when enjoying our holiday in Sicily. A Greek temple in Agrigento shows the opulence of the island's history. A political poster attached to an old and tiny Fiat in the streets of Palermo reflects the modest resources that currently prevail.
Ira Sharkansky (Emeritus)
Department of Political Science
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Home tel: 972-2-532-2725
Cell phone: 054-683-5325
Fax: 972-2-582-9144