I wonder if this is the right move. Ariel Sharon knows better than I, but isn't it reasonable to wonder whether Abbas can get the terrorists under control? Or whether he can in the context of knuckling under to a demand from Sharon?

Sharon's demand that the Palestinian Authority exert substantial control over the jihadists within its borders may have made sense during the Arafat era, but now that he is dead I wonder if Sharon is not just giving leverage to the terrorists. That is, if you do not believe that Abbas can coerce the terrorists, he can only negotiate with them. Sharon is, in effect, requiring that Abbas make concessions to the terrorists in order for Sharon to deal with him. What am I missing?

I think you know that I am a big supporter of both Israel and Sharon, who I believe is Israel's best chance for lasting and well-defined borders. But I am not convinced that this move is necessary.

I understand your concerns and I was thinking along very similar lines. I almost always as a rule default to support for whatever Israeli elected leaders choose, but that doesn't mean you can't have an honest discussion of whether we think those choices are wise or not.

I'd put this entry under the of heading semi-impartial "newswatching" - hence my lack of much comment.

It will be interesting to watch the punditry for analysis. My feeling is that Sharon, as any democratic leader must do, is responding to this recent up-tick in violence and dead citizens, and this is his way of saying, "This is no joke this time. Mr. Abbas, it's time for you to make some decisions, as we did in our early days [see: Altalena] . You're going to have to take action. Just talking is not enough." Maybe Sharon could stand back a bit, but on the other hand, what Israeli wants to volunteer to be the last man to die so Hamas can make a "point" and Abbas can breathe a bit?

Now you could view any response by Abbas as bowing to Israeli pressure, on the other hand, if they're not talking, Abbas can't be said to be doing Sharon's bidding - he must be acting on his own. Who knows, maybe the whole thing is a put-up.

I doubt that, though. I think it just means that dead Israelis means serious action from Sharon - he's going to do what he needs to do as Israeli leader, and he's going to expect Abbas to do what he needs to do as Palestinian leader. Hopefully their roads will merge somewhere down the line, but that time clearly isn't quite here yet.

I worry that the crossing closings will hurt average Arabs, and that will make it more difficult for Abbas to show results.

On the other hand (again), look at it this way. Abbas got some of his strongest support in Gaza (as Jonathan Edelstein comments below), where life has been the toughest due to the Intifada - a backlash against the terror groups. So now the terror groups are at it again, causing more misery, forcing closings and making Abbas's job - the man the people JUST elected and now they want to succeed - even more difficult. Should Abbas decide to start moving - consolidate the security forces and have them start moving against the terror groups - it's possible that this might play into him actually getting more grass-roots support than he might have otherwise.

Hmmm...I may be convincing myself. :)

That would be, of course, a rational response from a peace-craving populace. Rational and peace-craving are not common responses around those parts, though.

Anyway, those are just a few of my thoughts at the moment.