The charade continues: Mahmoud Abbas, whose organization, you may recall, did not go into all-out civil war with Hamas, and who told palestinian TV just the other day that it is not necessary for Hamas to recognize Israel, is fooling the media again (including the JPost) by pretending to offer Hamas an ultimatum.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas plans to present the Hamas-led Cabinet with an ultimatum in the coming days to accept an agreement for a coalition government or head to early elections, an Abbas aide said Sunday.

In a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week, Abbas said he would travel to the Gaza Strip in the coming days for last-ditch talks on forming a joint government with Hamas, an Abbas aide said. If Hamas does not agree by the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan - in two weeks - then he will dissolve the Cabinet, according to the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.

My take: IF they call new elections, they have already picked who gets what positions. But I don’t think they’re going through with it. It’s all show for Condi and the EU. Abbas wants more money.

If anyone is keeping track of how many ultimatums this makes, feel free to post the number in the comments.

Baby Assad wants to play war games: The titular head of Syria is flexing his teeny little muscles (probably to go along with his teeny little other body parts) and talking about war with Israel. But talking about Syria fighting Israel reminded him that Israel could walk all over the Syrian army and wind up in Damascus this time, so now he wants his Arab buddies to help him beat up Israel.

Syrian sources in Damascus claimed that Syria was looking into an initiative that would renew the “Arab Joint Defense Treaty”, under which new systems would be established, binding member countries to defend other member countries that are under attack.

All snark aside, this is a pretty serious issue. Hamas is arming its people. Hezbullah now has a buffer-zone in the form of UNIFIL. I think the Arab world was emboldened by Israel’s refusal to run an effective ground war in Lebanon. The possibility now remains that Israel could fight a three-front war: Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza. In addition to that, there would be an upsurge in attacks in the West Bank. Things are far from secure, and my feeling that we are still in the midst of the next World War remain.

To: Mr. Howard Rieger
President and Chief Executive Officer of UJC
info@ujc.org

From: SnoopyTheGoon and affiliate blog partners, family members and friends

Subject: Distribution of emergency help money.

Dear Mr. Rieger,

I am writing this letter after reading an article by Ms. Helen Freedman of AFSI that can be read in its entirety here. In the article Ms. Freedman complains about the UJC policy of proportional distribution of the emergency assistance to the citizens of the Northern Israel. According to Ms. Freedman, there should be no allocation of emergency assistance funds to the Arab and Druze citizens from the donations collected by UJC. Moreover, Ms. Freedman is hurt by the fact that the Israeli government pays a compensation to the Arab and Druze citizens of the North (somehow linking this fact with the unhappy fate of Jewish families that were relocated from the Gaza Strip). Of course, Ms. Freedman may be unaware of the law that requires the government to compensate the damage caused by the war to every citizen, but this is hardly relevant to the appeal Ms. Freedman makes to UJC.

Mr. Rieger, the fact that UJC help Arab and Druze families shows that you and your organization are perfectly aware that:

• The Arab and Druze houses and other property suffered extensive damage during the war - exactly as the houses and other property of Jewish citizens
• The Arab and Druze communities suffered a proportionally greater number of killed and wounded than the Jewish communities (excluding the IDF dead), due to the sad fact that there sufficient shelters were not built in the Arab villages. It may have been an oversight that is easy to explain, but the results were clear to all.
• The majority of Arab citizens are loyal tax paying citizens of the State of Israel and the stories about them dancing on the roofs and cheering Jewish deaths are, most probably, a sad result of lumping all Arabs together. Indeed, the manifestations of happiness mentioned by Ms. Freedman were observed in the West Bank and Gaza. But in any case these manifestations are not relevant where humanitarian assistance is concerned.
• The Druze communities traditionally provide IDF with loyal and able recruits. A Druze unit was the first into Lebanon and stayed there for the whole of the war, performing with valor and resourcefulness.

We support the policy of UJC and other Jewish organizations to provide assistance to all the citizens of Northern Israel. We believe that this is the best way to win hearts and minds of Israeli Arab, Druze and other minorities and to show the world that Jews will not begrudge help to their fellow non-Jewish Israelis in the time of need.

We appeal to you to continue with this policy and not to give in to the voices calling you to change it. A change of the kind demanded by Ms. Freedman will be disastrous and going against the best Jewish traditions of humanism and kindness.

We appreciate your work and all the help you provide to our country,

With best wishes,
SnoopyTheGoon and others.

Cross-posted on SimplyJews

A note from Meryl: This post was put up with my agreement. I’d been pondering what to write about this issue, and Snoopy saved me the trouble by doing it for me.

Say, just in case you missed him saying it a few days ago, Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas and current palestinian prime minister has said yet again that Hamas will never, ever, not a chance in a billion, recognize Israel.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Sunday his Hamas-led government will not recognize Israel and has problems with a widely touted Arab peace plan because it does.

International assistance to the Palestinians has dried up because the militant Hamas movement will not recognize Israel and renounce violence.

But Haniyeh repeated the Islamic militant group’s hardline principle the despite the crippling Western sanctions which have bankrupted his government, led to strikes and demonstrations by public service workers and clashes between Hamas forces and police identified with the rival Fatah.

Haniyeh, addressing an “Iftar” feast at the end of a day of Ramadan fasting, said Hamas and the government “will not recognize or normalize” relations with Israel.

He also said the main problem with the Arab peace plan, presented in 2002 by Saudi Arabia and endorsed by an Arab summit, is that it recognizes Israel in exchange for an Israeli pullout from the West Bank, Gaza Strip, east Jerusalem and Golan Heights.

I need to go back and find those New York Times editorials that predicted Hamas would moderate because they were now elected.