Unchanging Fatah

According to the Oslo Accords the following prisoners are subject to release in the guise of confidence building measures.

2. The following categories of detainees and/or prisoners will be included in the abovementioned releases:

a. all female detainees and prisoners shall be released in the first stage of release;

b. persons who have served more than two thirds of their sentence;

c. detainees and/or prisoners charged with or imprisoned for security offenses not involving fatality or serious injury;

d. detainees and/or prisoners charged with or convicted of non-security criminal offenses; and

e. citizens of Arab countries being held in Israel pending implementation of orders for their deportation.

Note further that prisoner releases are listed as confidence building measures.

Earlier, someone observed that the point of the prisoner releases was to allow Israel to free Palestinian whose main crimes was membership in Fatah. After all the premise of the Oslo Accords was that Fatah had given up terror and that therefore, simply membership in Fatah should no longer constitute a crime. (I think it was Krauthammer’s observation, but I haven’t been able to find the column.)

Subsequently, prisoner releases have take on a whole new meaning. Observe the reporting on an upcoming release planned by Israel. The AP reports:

Israel’s prisons service said the upcoming release would include Said al-Atba, who has served 32 years of a life sentence for planting a bomb, illegal military training and belonging to a banned group. Al-Atba, 57, is the longest serving prisoner held by Israel and he is widely seen by the Palestinian public as a symbol for the prisoners.

The fate of the roughly 9,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails is highly emotional, as many Palestinians either know someone in prison or have served time themselves. Abbas, who is struggling to show his people the fruits of drawn-out peace negotiations with Israel, has repeatedly urged Israel to carry out a large-scale release.

“Solving the prisoner problem paves the road to solving other issues in (peace) negotiations,” said Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a spokesman for Abbas. He said the inclusion of long-serving prisoners would bolster the president’s credibility with the public, which has grown skeptical over the slow pace of peace talks.

And given that releases of prisoners seem to be a benchmark for success for Palestinian “governments”, releasing prisoners to Hamas creates its own problems.

Jerusalem denies this report outright. According to intelligence sources, Khalid Mish’al, the strong man in Hamas, has recently declared that “there would be no deal for the release of Shalit without the release of Al-Barghuthi.” According to Israeli intelligence sources, the release of Marwan al-Barghuthi, who is currently the most popular man on the Palestinian street, at Hamas’s behest would constitute the death blow to the PNA, an official death certificate for Abu-Mazin [Mahmud Abbas], and a dramatic boost to Hamas in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] as well.

Imagine that. The only consideration why Israel would not release Barghouti is that it might weaken the ineffective terrorist organization Fatah in favor of the effective terrorist organization Hamas.

Nowhere in these articles is a suggestion that the continuing release of prisoners means that peace is closer at hand. Furthermore, Prisoner releases do not mean that the Palestinians will govern themselves effectively. All prisoner releases mean is that Israel is saying that terror against its citizens is not that serious. It says that even the ongoing terrorism committed since Oslo – when Fataj committed to forswear terrorism – doesn’t represent bad faith on the part of Israel’s supposed peace partners.

Whereas the prisoner releases originally were an acknowledgment that Fatah has changed, now they represent an acceptance that Fatah has not changed.

It was 10 years ago, but the late, great Shmuel Schnitzer concluded an essay on prisoner release saying:

The Israeli judicial system does not consider the murderer’s motives, whether he acted out of hatred, or vengeance, or whether he was sent by some foreign entity which has claims against Israel and thus believes that it can hold Israeli citizens as hostages in order to meet its demands. States do not surrender to blackmail, even if they have lost a considerable part of their deterrent capability. There is no good reason to twist the Israeli judicial system’s arm because our neighbors are angry and rioting in the streets. Those who sent sent the young men on their murderous missions, sent them to long years in prison and must accept the fact that they simply come home forthwith.

Another question is whether the riots and disturbances jibe with the peace agreements. Those who incite the crowds and encourage them take a heavy responsibility upon themselves even if they have reason to suppose that the new Israel might be prepared to surrender to batons and stones.

Prisoner releases as confidence building measure needed to adhere to certain specific guidelines. Those guidelines are now ignored. The way the issue has been twisted over the past 15 years has turned it from a way of building trust into a way of building up an ineffectual and insincere “peace partner.”

The worst part of this is that it effectively means that Israel as a nation, accepts terror against its citizens as an appropriate expression of the Palestinian nationalism. Fatah hasn’t changed, just the way Israel views Fatah has changed.

Meryl has related thoughts here.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad. Elder of Ziyon demonstrates the meaningless of “gestures.”