Sick Irony Behind Terror-Fighting Bloc

This letter was published in the Waterbury Republican-American on Friday, December 18, 2015.

Reading how Saudi Arabia has created an Islamic bloc to fight terror groups, I couldn't help but think of the sick irony that one of the bloc's members is the Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian Authority is led by Mahmoud Abbas, who also is the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Fatah, the terror groups which, under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, effectively invented modern terrorism and continue to invent new terror strategies. Abbas himself was instrumental in setting off the latest wave of Palestinian terror attacks, which in the last few months, has seen hundreds of knife attacks and motor-vehicle-ramming attacks against Jews in Israel, the disputed territories and elsewhere.

The terror tactics the Palestinians originate for use against Jews never stop with the Jews. Their knifing-attack tactic already has spread to London and Paris.

One wonders whether Abbas considers his recent spirited declaration, "We welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem," an integral part of his fight against terror groups. One also wonders whether that fight will include the terror groups he heads.

Alan Stein
Natick, Mass.
The writer, a former Waterbury resident, is president emeritus of PRIMER-Connecticut (Promoting Responsibility In Middle East Reporting) and founder of PRIMER organizations in Massachusetts and Israel.