Pipes on Abbas

Daniel Pipes has an interesting column on Abbas in which he lays out his thoughts about Abbas and what he will be like as the leader of the Palestinians.

"Mr. Abbas shows tactical flexibility. Unlike Arafat, who could never let go of the terrorist tool that had brought him wealth, power, and glory, Mr. Abbas sees the situation more cogently. If stopping the violence against Israel best serves his goal of eliminating the sovereign Jewish state, that is his program.

He no more accepts what he so charmingly the other day called the "Zionist enemy" than Arafat did (or Hamas, or Palestinian Islamic Jihad), but he is open to a multiplicity of means to destroy it. As he announced after his electoral victory this week, "the lesser jihad is over and the greater jihad is ahead." The form of jihad must change from violent to nonviolent, but the jihad continues."

At this juncture I have to agree with Pipes that Abbas appears to have the potential to be a much more serious foe than Arafat. We are going to have to wait and see what tack he takes and whether he is really interested in peace or has just adopted a new strategy.