Mahmoud Abbas apparently tried to reach Reaganesque levels of rhetoric this afternoon while campaigning through West Bank towns for the presidential election. He stopped in Tulkarem and Qalqiliya and told crowds gathered there that Israel had to tear down the wall in order to get peace:

Interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas made a campaign run Wednesday through West Bank towns living in the shadow of Israel's separation barrier, urging Israel to tear down the huge structure that he said would never help peace. ...

"I say to our neighbors ... no fence will bring peace or bring you security," Abbas told a rally at a Tulkarem stadium just 500 yards from the barrier. ...

Later, Abbas traveled to the nearby town of Qalqiliya, which is almost entirely cut off by the barrier. Abbas toured the wall and addressed a crowd of several hundred supporters.

"We hope the Israelis will take the wall down," he said. "If the Israelis want to reach a fair and just peace, they will take down the wall."

Abbas aims his rhetoric in the wrong direction. If he wants the wall to come down, the Palestinians need to stop blowing up buses and pizzerias in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The Israelis may have put the wall up, but the Palestinians built it -- in fact, they literally built it, supplying the cement for it out of supplies intended on assisting Palestinians rebuild their towns. They also figuratively built in on the corpses of the women and children they've murdered in their bloodsoaked orgy of revenge they call an intifada.

Perhaps Abbas intended to evoke Ronald Reagan standing outside the Berlin Wall, perhaps not -- but Abbas misses the point if he did. The East Germans and Russians built the Berlin Wall to keep its subjugated population from fleeing into the West and freedom. Israel built its wall to keep the barbarians from slaughtering the already-free citizens of Southwest Asia's only other functioning democracy. A call from the barbarians to tear down the Israeli's only effective defensive structure as a trade for "peace" should result in gales of laughter on the other side, and a continuation of its construction.

One last note: the AP sets a new low for bias in its reporting. Take a read of this passage, emphasis mine:

"The Palestinian people have accepted the election laws and will therefore accept its results, even if Abu Mazen gets only a small majority in the polls," said analyst Ali Jerbawi, referring to Abbas by his nickname.

It's a nickname in the same sense that Night Stalker was Richard Ramirez' nickname. Abu Mazen is Mahmoud Abbas' nom de guerre, the identity he used when directing terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens. For the AP to glibly overlook this and pass of the use of Abbas' terrorist handle -- a use which calls his status as negotiating partner into question -- shows a contempt for AP's readership and a desire to cover up the less savory aspects of Abbas' past.

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» AP Exposed Again from TrinPundit
This time it's Captain Ed from Captain's Quarters: One last note: the AP sets a new low for bias in its reporting. Take a read of this passage, emphasis mine:... [Read More]

Tracked on December 29, 2004 4:52 PM

» Mahmoud Abbas Says "Tear Down This Wall" from The Colossus
But as Captain Ed points out, the similarities to Ronald Reagan pretty much end there. Money quote: Perhaps Abbas intended to evoke Ronald Reagan standing outside the Berlin Wall, perhaps not -- but Abbas misses the point if he did. The East Germans an... [Read More]

Tracked on December 29, 2004 7:30 PM