Abbas’ acquiescence to Israel’s attack on Gaza was by no means a surprise: he’s a coward, he already played American and Israeli puppet against the outcome of the free elections. He is corrupt, his cronies continue to fill positions they are unqualified for, their relatives enjoy similar privileges, and he has been a useless political figure for long, let alone a president, and as one kabober concluded: “He’s interested in playing president, not being president.”

An Al-Jazeera story had referred to the attack on Gaza as the “Trilateral Aggression,” the same phrase used to describe the 1956 Israeli-British-French attack on Egypt, yet this time it was Israel, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority. But to put Abbas’ latest act of treason into further perspective, it serves to remember that his term as president officially ended on January 9th. For months, a debate raged in Palestine about the different scenarios that would take place when his legitimate mandate ends.

The only constitutional outcome according to the Palestinian basic law would have been to hold presidential elections before January 9th. Abbas refused, knowing he would not win a free vote by any stretch of imagination. His excuse what worse than the crime: Since he agreed to hold off-year parliamentary election on a whim from the Americans (Upon Israeli recommendation when Hamas’ popularity was at a high point), he wanted to delay the presidential elections by one year so that he can hold concurrent presidential and parliamentary elections in 2010; effectively unilaterally extending his own term by a year.

Legal and political scholar cried foul, several opposition parties declared they would not recognize the legitimacy of his presidency after original term expires. A political and legal showdown was on the horizon, but what do you know…? Abbas just quietly declared he is staying in his position; it was hard to hear the announcement behind all the Israeli bombs on Gaza and bullets in the streets of the West Bank. So in a sense, Israel has just directly facilitated the creation of a dictator; just one step short of installing one out of the blue, say like installing the Shah in Iran.

Israel’s semi declared goal of the latest aggression is to weaken, if not eliminate Hamas. It may be a goal, Hamas is a strong enough opposition movement to hinder any surrender settlement that Abbas may be inclined to sign on to. But Israel does not wish to eliminate Hamas; because it is a most convenient enemy. A perfect villain in western media, especially in the post September 11 discourse whose a menace at worst. Its harm’s reach is a few Israeli fatalities a year and early market closure in a couple of small towns near the Gaza border. Israel needs Hamas and depends on it.

Not to get carried away, it served to acknowledge that is capable of turning any of its friend, Abbas for example, into the perfect enemy in no time. Case in point, it brought Yasser Arafat from exile, to the negotiations table, turned him into the villain, besieged, and killed him in a matter of a few years.

But Israel’s goals from this offensive it primarily two fold: First, a timeless quest for Israeli leaders, another attack with the hope of dealing a blow to the morale and psyche to the Palestinians as a people, for the Israeli generals often state that their war and colonization of Palestine is not over until the Palestinians “feel truly defeated at heart.”

The second objective is to weaken Abbas as mush as can be attained while keeping him in his position. Abbas is weakened being an ineffective leader internally and in terms of achieving anything from the Israelis. He is weakend by becoming an illegitimate president after January 9th (Israel has encouraged him to do so and as it now seams, provided the cover). And he is weakened most of all by having been seen by Palestinians to have conspired with the Israelis to commit a massacre against his own people.

Israel loves having a weak leader, especially if he is in their pocket. It is only second to the perfect villain enemy. Should by any fluke Obama decide to press ahead for a deal, assuming he does not sleep with an intern and is exposed at an opportune moment, the Israelis will use the time-honored excuse of “We have no one to negotiate with.”

Israel has a long history of doing exactly the opposite of its declared goals; sometimes they get it wrong, but often they just want to trick the Americans into supporting what ever the plan is at the time. Israeli intelligence flooded Washington with reports that Hamas was very unlikely to win in the parliamentary elections, making the Bush Administration push for elections when every one from casual observer to journalist knew Hamas was poised to win by a landslide. Act two of that play was making the Americans isolate the democratically elected Hamas, starve the population, and create a rift in the Palestinian politics (being power hungry and corrupt, respectively, Hamas and Fatah happily complied).

Like I said in my post in the 2nd day of Israel aggression, Abbas and cronies will be installed in Gaza after Hamas in weakened. Mohammed Dahlan will go in first and “clear it out” being the former security chief, read secret police, then Abbas would proclaim him self a liberator, especially if he goes in after an Israeli with drawal, making it look like he actually liberated gaza from the Israelis (not many will buy it, but it will give his hard core supporters enough talking points to shout on TV), and PM Salam Fayyad will go in with some “reconstruction money.”

That was my prediction. Less than two weeks later, Fayyad is already talking about “reconstruction money” included in the language from the UN cease-fire resolution 1860, and the projects he would run with it. Abbas and Dahlan are already hinting at going into Gaza, but by saying they would not accept power handed to them by the Israelis… Sure, there will be a 24-hour power vacuum they’d occupy, just like Britain did not hand power to the Zionist terrorist groups in Palestine.

Related posts:

1. Abbas catches dictatorship bug in Egypt
2. Israel to Disenfranchise East Jerusalem Palestinians
3. CORRUPT
4. An Open Letter to Abbas
5. In Case You Wondered Why…