Failed Palestinian leadership puts world at risk

By Ilana Freedman / Local Columnist

Friday, June 17, 2005

For thousands of years, the Middle East has been the setting for complex, volatile, and often violent interaction between diverse cultures. The waves of armies that passed back and forth over the centuries provided the historical foundation for what became Western civilization. The armies came in search of wealth, power, and conquest and left a swath of suffering and death in their wake.

Sadly, in the thousands of years that have passed, little has changed. The quest for dominion, whether driven by religious fervor or political hubris, continues to drive the people of the region through cycles of endless wars.

The events of 9/11 opened a new chapter in the long history of the Middle East wars. Three years ago, in the spring of 2002, I wrote a report that forecast the proliferation of terrorism throughout the region and the rest of the world. The report looked at the small terrorist intifada that the Palestinians had begun against Israel in September 2000, and tracked the funding of this "little" war back to the overflowing coffers of Rhiyad, Baghdad, Damascus, Tripoli, and Islamabad. Following the trail back only a little bit further, it led to Europe and the US.

In April 2002, it became clear that far more was at stake than the small Jewish foothold along the Mediterranean Coast. It was shocking to discover that millions of dollars collected from carefully crafted Islamic charities across America were being sent halfway around the world to fund Palestinian suicide bombers and explosives laboratories whose product was destined for detonation in the population centers in Israel.

It was also becoming increasingly obvious that if the funding channels were not stopped, the fever for terror and blood, fanned by local success, would spread -- not only to countries throughout the Middle East but to the rest of the world.

The corruption that was rampant in the Palestinian Authority under the leadership of Yassir Arafat played a significant role in the encouragement of global terrorism. From the moment when he entered the United Nations in November 1974 and asked the world to "decide between the olive branch and the freedom fighter's gun," the legitimacy of global terrorism was assured.

As leader of the Palestinians, he stifled economic growth and prevented the establishment of a viable infrastructure, while his people continued to suffer from poverty, lack of jobs, and inadequate healthcare. He squirreled away billions of dollars of public money in Swiss bank accounts, money that had been provided by the international community for the building of the new Palestinian economy. And even as he carried the banner of peace (in English) as a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, he called (in Arabic) for a hundred child martyrs to die killing Jews for the glory of Allah and the Palestinian cause.

The result of this brazen duplicity was the continued suffering of his people and the development of a culture of terror as an acceptable form of political expression that would spread around the globe.

It is no accident that many of suicide bombers who have died in Iraq over the last two years have been Palestinians, recruited from large universities and small villages to join the jihad against the west and die for the glory of Allah.

For many years, Israel has been the laboratory for terrorists to practice their craft and develop their techniques. Today, the laboratory has grown much larger, the technological resources much richer, and the money continues to flow through global channels to fund their missions. The target is no longer just the tiny state of Israel. Today the target is the Western world, and most particularly, the United States.

As the Palestinians continue to provide a vital source of manpower for the jihad, it is worth while to look back at their source, to return to the 'laboratory' that has spawned so many terrorists and to look at their current leader who has failed to halt the flow of young men running to war.

Mahmoud Abbas is the first democratically elected Prime Minister of the Palestinian people. He attracted world attention when he presented himself as a moderate who truly seeks peace. But like his predecessor, Abbas has failed to live up to his promise. He is a terrorist in a suit, condoning violent attacks on civilians, releasing from jail convicted terrorist murderers, and refusing to disarm the terrorist groups within his own community.

Since his election, he has been steadily losing his power to Hamas, an organization far more radical in its terrorism than Abbas. Although he recently was warmly welcomed to the White House by President Bush, who called him "a man of courage" and gave him $50 million in direct aid, Abbas will be unable to continue his balancing act and maintain his position for much longer. His resignation will be a reasonable conclusion to his weak performance as a Palestinian leader.

What will this mean in the context of the volatile Middle East and the global war against terror? Hamas will most surely rush to fill the vacuum created by Abbas' departure, sieze the political reigns of power wherever they can, and continue to encourage the training of young suicide terrorists as a matter of policy. The attacks against Israel will intensify, and the encouragement of terrorism abroad will increase.

What appears to be a merely a regional political concern is in reality global in its impact. We would be wise to take these events quite personally and recognize the long reach of Palestinian terror and the risks that they present to the future of the Western world.

(Ilana Freedman is a specialist in counter-terrorism and Managing Partner of Gerard Group International LLC. She welcomes your comments at ilana@gerardgroup.com.)

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