In a mystical land a world away, 200 known militants — people referred to as “gunmen” by many newspapers — signed a “peace pledge” in order to get jobs. As part of these jobs, the peace-loving gunmen were immediately given weapons. It must be another Tuesday in the Middle East.
The latest of strange and ironic deals as Israel and Palestine struggle to find a lasting peace came today when these 200 militants signed the deal in order to get civilian government or security force jobs. Not all of the signors, then, will be armed, but according to an insider, approximately 80 wanted men have already started working for West Bank security forces as part of the deal, and have yet to surrender their arms. The Palestinian Authority would like to get 1,000 signatures on this peace pledge. A Palestinian official has called this a step in furtherance of peace, but Israel has demanded actual disarmament. Reuters reports:
President Mahmoud Abbas is under pressure from Israel to disarm militants as a condition for further peace moves, but he is treading carefully to avoid more internal strife. He is also worried that Palestinian voters fed up with lawlessness will punish his ruling Fatah group in parliamentary elections set for July if he fails to impose order.
Half of the militants being recruited for the program are on Israel’s wanted list for alleged involvement in attacks that have killed Israelis during a Palestinian uprising.
Those signing the pledge promise “not to carry out any action that violates security and rule of law and agreements reached between the Palestinian Authority and any state or party.”
But militants are still balking at disarming. Some say they want assurances of their safety, even though Israel has said it would stop pursuing them if they give up their weapons. Others refuse to disarm until Israel lifts its encirclement of West Bank cities or until the Palestinians win statehood.
Slowplay’s take
This looks like an attempt at what Americans often glibly call “peace through superior firepower”, as the Palestinians again appear to be pulling a fast one. Does anyone really believe that a good way to move toward a final end of hostilities is to take wanted militants and give them weapons? If these pledges have any effect, then why do the guys have the guns at all?
It will be interesting to see if this further damages the already microscopic credibility of the Palestinian Authority with Israel and the rest of the world. It appears that the Palestinians have, once again, thumbed their noses at the peace process.
Nathan Novak at 12:22 pm
