The Times of London is reporting that Israeli intelligence intercepted plans to assasinate Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who was elected last year to replace the late Yassir Arafat. The Israelis then warned Abbas of the assasination plot, allegedly to be carried out by Hamas operatives.
It is true that with fanatical terrorists like Hamas now in charge of the Palestinian government, Israel probably considers Abbas (though he is a former terrorist himself) to be one of the few Palestinian leaders whose thinking comes close to actual sanity. And for that reason he is worth more alive than dead to the Israelis. At least Abbas' PLO could pretend to be supportive of co-existing Palestinian and Jewish states.
But would the PLO have warned the Israelis if it knew that Hamas was planning to assasinate the Israeli prime minister?
While you're pondering that question, take a minute and read Iran's "Judgement Day" military contingency plan for use in response to a pre-emptive attack by the US or Israel aimed at putting Iran's nuclear facilities out of commission. According to this plan, Iran already has "more than 50 terrorists cells in Canada, the US and Europe" and will use them to attack civil and industrial targets in such a way as to maximize civilian casualties. Of course it has long been known that Israel is a prime target for a first strike by Iran (or the terrorist group that obtains nukes from Iran first). That hundreds of thousands of Arabs and Palestinians would also die in such an attack seems to make no difference at all.
So think again about Israel, the number one enemy and the number one target for aggression and terrorism in the Middle East. That they would attempt to head off the assasination of Abbas is nothing less than extraordinary.
(This post was modified on May 11, 2006)
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