Israel Matzav

Rethinking Giuliani

Like many American Jews who live in Israel, I have been leaning towards voting for former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the 2008 Presidential election. This morning, I have cause for concern.

Rudolph W. Giuliani addressed Israeli-Palestinian discord on Tuesday, saying it was pointless for the United States to negotiate with Hamas, the Islamic group that has seized control of the Gaza Strip, and that Washington should work with Egypt and Jordan to bolster Fatah and its control over the West Bank.

As he advocated active American engagement, Mr. Giuliani urged caution and broadly criticized the Clinton administration’s approach in the 1990s, trying to broker peace with Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader.

“Let’s not become like starry romantics like we were with Arafat, where he was leading us down the primrose path and we were helping him get the Nobel Peace Prize,” Mr. Giuliani said in a speech here at Regent University, which Pat Robertson, the evangelist, founded.

Setting out a position that largely tracked Bush administration policy and the positions of Egypt, Israel and Jordan, Mr. Giuliani suggested that the best course was to bolster Fatah, which Mr. Arafat controlled until he died and is now run by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president

“Let’s see if we can’t get Jordan and Egypt to help us try and create something with Abbas in the West Bank,” Mr. Giuliani said.

And from that speech in a synagogue in Rockville, Maryland:

As for dealing with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, he said that America should heed Reagan's admonition to trust, but verify. "We should try with a sense of steely realism and not such a great desire for peace that we'll agree to anything," he said. That was the mistake the Clinton administration made when it negotiated with Yasser Arafat, Giuliani said, drawing applause when he reminded the audience of when he booted Arafat from Lincoln Center in 1995.

Could someone please tell Rudy that the Holocaust denying Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen is not a 'moderate' and that neither is his 'Fatah' organization. The only difference between Fatah and Hamas is that Hamas wants to destroy Israel now while Fatah wants to do it slowly in phases. There's really nothing to discuss. Israel can do nothing but make 'concessions' in exchange for nothing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:46 PM