Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was right when he described the suicide attack on a Tel Aviv nightclub which left many injured and at least four dead as an act of sabotage. The objective was to derail peace moves by the new Palestinian leadership and the Israelis, which are backed by Washington.
We know that the actual bomber was Abdullah Badran, a Palestinian; both the Israelis and the Palestinians say so and the Israelis have already arrested his brothers. But who put him up to it? It is possible that Palestinian militants were responsible, intent not only in destroying this latest attempt at peace but also testing the determination of the new Palestinian government to keep them under control. All Palestinian groups have denied responsibility. There is every reason to believe them. They too want a settlement and have promised the new Palestinian leadership to do nothing at this point to endanger or destroy the peace efforts. They also know that they have everything to lose if they do. Palestinian and Arab public opinion would condemn them and the Palestinian government would turn in fury on them. If groups such as Hamas were not responsible, it suggests that the bomber went solo on behalf of someone else.
There will be also those who will insist that Israelis were behind this attack. Of course, extreme right-wing Israelis also want the peace moves to fail. It is entirely possible that they could have persuaded a blinkered Palestinian fanatic into unwittingly playing the part of “agent provocateur.” The Palestinians themselves, however, do not think so. President Abbas has blamed the outrage on “a third party,” meaning a foreign government or organization. Accusing outsiders is an old trick when governments need to find someone to blame for domestic problems but in this case it may well be true. There are those who would be interested in stirring up a hornets’ nest between Palestinians and Israelis in order to take the heat off themselves. The Palestinians yesterday pointed the finger at Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant organization, saying that the bomber had also been recruited by it. Hezbollah has denied any involvement but the accusation is unlikely to go away.
Links may even be made to the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, another bloody attempt at destabilizing the region for political advantage. If these allegations are believed by President Abbas, this attack could shift Palestinian alliances dramatically. In any event, he has made it clear that his government will respond decisively. “The Palestinian Authority will not stand silent in the face of this act of sabotage,” he said. It will “track down” those responsible; “they will be punished.”
Abbas is showing statesmanship and determination. Sharon will hopefully do the same for it would be madness to respond with reprisals as he has done in the past. It would play straight into the hands of whomever was behind this barbarity. It would pull the rug from under Abbas’ feet, destroy the present Palestinian consensus and inflame the region once again.
