On occasion, it’s fairly easy to read through the lines of a political campaign, especially when the source is on the desperate side. A case in point is the campaign that’s been launched this week by the PA leadership in collaboration with Israel’s leftist media. The theme of this campaign was nicely phrased by Reshet Bet Radio Friday morning, following an hour of interviews with a garden variety of Palestinian officials:
The Moderate Camp in the Palestinian Street Is Losing Power
It turns out that without any political achievements to speak of in Mahmoud Abbas’s ledger book, that mythical “moderate camp” which has allegedly been pitched in the “Palestinian street” (you live by the mixed metaphor, you die by the mixed metaphor) is losing strength.
Every day, a source in the Palestinian security forces (moderate chaps every last one of ’em) told Reshet Bet, the Palestinian Authority is losing the justification for its existence—and it’s all on account of Israel’s policy and actions.
In the past, reminisced the source, there was such a thing as “political horizon,” which fueled the day to day activities of the PA security forces. I’m not making this up. Today, with the horizon gone (replaced by a more realistic horizon that shows no interest in the 2-state solution), the only drive behind those forces are the orders of Chairman Abbas. But how long can those suffice, the source was wondering.
Now, it’s in Israel’s best interest to keep those Palestinian security forces inspired and with a heart full of hope for an independent future, says the source, because they’re the only thing standing between Israel and a third intifada. After all, since the beginning of this year, Palestinian security has frustrated as many as 10 terrorism attempts aimed at civilians in Israel.
Of course, they also fanned the flames that sent Arab youths out to throw rocks and firebombs at passing Israeli cars, and the reason those have subsided had nothing to do with the PA or its security apparatus – it had to do with a new IDF commander taking over the Judea and Samaria command and making the necessary number of arrests of known hooligans (or close to the necessary number).
Then there’s the surefire warning used so often by the PA in these pleas, that Hamas is breathing down their necks, recovering its foundation in the PA, and if the PA continues to lose popularity, get ready to face the Hamas.
That argument actually exposes the entire communications effort as the raw and empty propaganda that it is. Hamas is “on the floor” as the Israeli idiom goes (“down on its face” is another good one). With its great patron in Cairo fighting for his own horizon, and with the new powers that be in Egypt actually doing war with Hamas and taking revenge on their caged population – it’s doubtful Hamas has the time of day for renewing its threats in the PA – and it’s even more doubtful that anyone over at the PA would be interested. No one likes a loser.
In the interview, the Palestinian source suggested that a “gift” as he put it, of releasing a few Palestinian terrorists currently in Israeli jails would be very nice. It would renew the people’s faith in the boss, Abbas.
Did you ever take a course in Middle-East market bargaining? I haven’t either. But I’m pretty sure you have to be in a good position when the other side stops talking about demands and rights and starts asking for gifts.