Tuesday, July 22, 2008

22-Jul-08: A presidential visit?

In this Alice-in -Wonderland region, our leaders' decision are often confounding. Consider this sequence of events:

On July 16th we read the following report in Haaretz:
Celebrating in Gaza and Ramallah as well: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday welcomed the execution of the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hizbullah. Abbas congratulated the family of released Lebanese murderer Samir Kuntar and sent his condolences to the Lebanese families receiving their loved ones' bodies as part of the deal
Today, not one week later, we learn that Israel's government deems that same Abbas worthy of a "historic" visit to Israel's Presidential residence. The encounter, we were informed, will feature a red-carpet welcome and Palestinian flags alongside the Star of David. President Shimon Peres said that the political situation would not affect Israel's commitment to pursue the peace process. A peace process with a terrorist-lover?

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