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Article: 'West Bank First': It Won't Work
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- June 19, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Having embraced one illusion -- that it could help isolate and
defeat Hamas -- the Bush administration is dangerously close to
embracing another: Gaza is dead, long live the West Bank. This
approach appears compelling. Flood the West Bank with money, boost
Fatah security forces and create a meaningful negotiating process.
The Palestinian people, drawn to a recovering West Bank and repelled
by the nightmare of an impoverished Gaza, will rally around the
more pragmatic of the Palestinians.
The theory is a few years late and several steps removed from
reality. If the United States wanted to help President Mahmoud
Abbas, the time to do so was in 2005, when he won office in a
landslide, ...