Netanyahu, Abbas can avoid next abduction
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should engage Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on both diplomacy and security to better manage future crises.
The Hamas members who abducted the three Israeli teens could have foreseen how Israel would respond. You do not have to be some military correspondent in the know to assume that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would place the West Bank under closure, arrest dozens of suspects and, at the same time, “eliminate” a few wanted men. The kidnappers would have been safe in assuming that the house-to-house searches would increase the civilian population’s hostility toward Israel. Whatever shaky faith in the peace process still exists will have suffered another blow.
Nor did the kidnappers need the services of political pundits with diplomas to anticipate that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would cast the blame on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who signed a reconciliation agreement with the very organization whose members were responsible for the abduction. It should be obvious that presenting the Palestinian leader as a partner to the crime would hardly improve his status as a reliable partner in achieving a two-state solution.
