Israel Matzav

Deja vu all over again in Judea and Samaria

'Moderate' 'Palestinian President' Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen is to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert tomorrow and YNet is reporting this evening that Abu wants to go back to the future:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will ask Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during their meeting Sunday that Israel hand over control over several West Bank towns to the Palestinians, a PA official told Ynet.

...

He refused to detail which cities were included in the request, but Ynet has found that Abbas and the delegation will initially ask for control over Ramallah, where the Muqata'a and Abbas's offices are, and Bethlehem, which is regarded as a relatively peaceful town. Later on, the Palestinians will also ask for control over another town in the north of the West Bank: Qalqilya, Tulkarem, Nablus or Jenin.

For those of you who have forgotten, September 28, 1995:

The Israeli prime minister and the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation have signed a deal in Washington giving Palestinians control over much of the West Bank.

Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat put their names to the 400-page agreement in a low-key ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

They were watched by US President Bill Clinton, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and King Hussein of Jordan.

The leaders of Syria and Lebanon were conspicuous by their absence. Mr Rabin and the US president both called on the two Arab nations to resume peace talks with Israel.

The event, which President Clinton hailed as "a new chapter" for the Middle East, was almost derailed by a last-minute disagreement between Mr Rabin and Mr Arafat over policing arrangements in the West Bank town of Hebron. It was resolved just hours before the signing ceremony.

Mr Rabin urged the PLO to resist "the evil angels of death by terrorism" determined to destroy the peace process.

Israel's foreign minister, Shimon Perez, welcomed the deal saying, "Once implemented, no longer will the Palestinians reside under our domination. They shall self-rule and we shall return to our heritage."

Mr Arafat declared there had been "enough killing of innocent people" calling the deal a "peace of the brave" - but he acknowledged it would be opposed by many.

Yeah, right. 'Peace' of the 'brave.' I was also surprised to find this buried in the YNet report linked above:

Lately, without informing the media, Israel has agreed that the Palestinian security forces carry arms within the cities. The Palestinians hope that this step indicates Israel's readiness to gradually transfer security control of West Bank towns to the Palestinians.

Huh?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:42 PM