Abbas, aides need to tone down their spasmodic posturing

By Khalid Amayreh

"......It is uncertain what motivates Amr and other Abbas's aides to indulge in this type of hysterical ranting and raving.

One would think that the routing by Hamas of the American-armed and American-financed Dahlan group is the main reason behind this vitriolic discourse.

Well, if so, then what does Amr think Hamas was supposed to do while watching Dahlan and other Elliot Abram's and Keith Dayton's agents sharpening their knives to decapitate the Islamic movement and create a quisling PA leadership to replace the democratically elected Palestinian government?

Was Hamas supposed to die a meek lamb's death in Gaza at the hands of America's and Israel's agents?

Besides, Amr and his colleagues in Ramallah should now volunteer to tell the Palestinian people why they thought the United States was giving Dahlan, a poorly-educated person who had unlawfully amassed million of dollars while serving as Head of the Preventive Security Force in Gaza, all these millions and all these arms?.....

Amr is not a stupid person. He knows quite well that Bush Administration wanted and still wants to ignite the flames of civil war among Palestinians in order to help Israel liquidate the Palestinian cause.

Moreover, Amr's insolent statements about the inadmissibility of Hamas joining the PLO reflects arrogance and vanity. Well, if the PLO is indeed the "sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people," as the orphans of Oslo keep invoking this time-worn mantra, then by what logic will a movement that represents at least 50% of Palestinians be excluded? Is the PLO an exclusive club for Amr and his ilk?

Indeed, if Hamas and other free-minded Palestinians are to be excluded from the PLO, then how could anyone claim that it represents all Palestinians?

Needless to say, an undemocratic, unelected and unreformed PLO is actually a liability, not an asset, to the Palestinian cause. Consequently, an alternative democratic and elected PLO that is responsible and answerable to the Palestinian people would have to be created.

We all know and Amr knows that the PLO is not supposed to be a pantheon of mummies which it has effectively become, thanks to people like Amr and Mahmoud Abbas.

Finally, it is very lamentable that Amr has decided to indulge in virulent disinformation about "Hamas's sheltering of al-Qaida."

This is an expression of national irresponsibility since such mendacious charges, which even the Israeli refrain from making, could eventually induce Israel and the US to murder Palestinians en mass and enforce Zionist efforts to lump the enduring Palestinian cause with America's so-called "war on terror."

One hopes that Amr and his colleague, who apparently think that the US represents the shadow of the Almighty on earth, will switch to a low gear and start pay more attention to the vital interests of the Palestinian people and their just cause.

Nobody is claiming that Hamas is angelic movement that is sinless. However, criticizing Hamas is one thing but destroying the Palestinian national cause, knowingly or unknowingly, by throwing one's self in the laps of our enemies, is an entirely different thing. And the masses won't forget."