Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Maybe the habit of peace could become permanent

I don't trust Abbas at all, since I think he's as committed to Israel's total destruction as Arafat was, although he's realized that the current Intifadah is not the way to achieve that goal. However, this article, which opens with the following paragraph, made me think:

Israeli officials on Thursday accepted a Palestinian plan to deploy hundreds of police officers to ensure quiet along the Gaza-Israel frontier, in the first act of security cooperation with Israel under Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Maybe a real peace, no matter how cynically Abbas enters into it, will have an unexpected benefit. A cessation of PLO/Hamas/Etc. slaughter will mean a lessening of tensions (one hopes), which could mean an increase in trade and job opportunities, which will mean increased economic well-being in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. There is no incentive against war like an economic one. Perhaps the pathetic Palestinians, who have been manipulated and abused by their own leadership, will like peace and the possibility of prosperity. Maybe they will be able to put aside the cycle of violence. Do I have any great faith in this theory? No. But it's still a nice thought.