Lebanon's English language Daily Star has an article today with this enticing title:
Abbas says armed struggle is over
Of course, the subtitle is more problematic:
Palestinian presidential candidate insists right of return is paramount
Ah, but what exactly does he mean by "right of return?"
Speaking during his historic visit to Lebanon Wednesday Abbas also reiterated that all Palestinian refugees must have the right to return to the Occupied Palestinian Territories in line with UN Resolution 194.
Not so problematic, then, assuming an ultimate peaceful settlement, of course. Because everyone knows that "Occupied Palestinian Territories" means the West Bank and Gaza only, right? Ah, but wait:
Nada Bakri [co-author of the above story] told IMRA this afternoon that Abbas actually said in Arabic that all Palestinian refugees must have the right to return to "Palestine". They made the editorial interpretation into English that "Palestine" meant the "Occupied Palestinian Territories".
"Editorial interpretation," my tuchas.
Back to the Daily Star article itself, though, what are we to make of this?
Palestine Liberation Organization chief Mahmoud Abbas said the armed struggle for the Palestinian people is over and it is now time for the "democratic route to liberation."His comments came as he warned that the Palestinian Authority "would not able to take control of Gaza if Israel withdraws" adding "it would lead to a civil war ... we are not ready - security wise - to take over."
Not surprisingly, there's no elaboration of this remark in the rest of the article. So here's my own "editorial interpretation": "There's not a snowball's chance in hell that the PA can be expected to restrain Hamas et al. after disengagement so don't even think of blaming us for whatever happens -- it'll be your own fault."
Close enough?
