The AP lowers the bar and calls out the Orwellian language for this profile of how Mohammed Dahlan, terrorist, has become Mohammed Dahlan, the last, best hope for the PA. In the article, we learn that a) Mahmoud Abbas is thin-skinned; b) the West ignores the quaint Arab tradition of “one man, one vote, one time” in the interests of “the peace process”; c) Abbas is less tolerant because the peace process has stalled (thereby implicitly blaming Israel for Abbas’ intransigence); and d) the world has a really bad understanding of corruption and nonviolence:
And while Abbas is not nearly as popular or authoritative as his predecessor Yasser Arafat, he has considerable support worldwide because he is seen as running a much cleaner government and is more convincingly committed to nonviolence.
And by the way, that’s Israel’s fault, too.
In a reflection of the complex wider considerations at play, Abbas has cracked down most publicly on those who – unlike Dahlan – criticize his decision to negotiate with Israel.
In August, dozens of men believed to be plainclothes security officers broke up a gathering of activists who opposed his decision to enter peace talks, which began the following month and have since stalled. Uniformed officers also waited outside to question the activists as they left.
Later, a when a smaller Palestinian faction stopped attending meetings of the Palestine Liberation Organization to protest Abbas’ decision to enter talks, he cut off the group’s monthly stipend.
Missing from this analysis: The fact that while Abbas negotiates, or pretends to negotiate with Israel, he receives billions of dollars from the suckers in the EU and U.S. (among others). If his rivals truly stopped him from negotiating at all, the money would ultimately dry up—at least until he could blame it on Israel (cf.: Settlement freeze, Obama Administration).
It still astonishes me—although it really shouldn’t—at how low the bar is set for thugs, dictators, kleptocrats, human rights abusers, thieves, and tyrants—who happen to be Arab or Muslim leaders. Compare that with, say, the standard for Republican leaders.
Shyeah.