Does Abbas Back Blockade?
The Arab world has become more vocal against Israel’s blockade of Hamas since Israeli commandos prevented a flotilla of boats from reaching Gaza two weeks ago. The ships refused to turn aside and were boarded by Israeli commandos; the incident ended in a violent clash in which several terrorist activist passengers were killed. Despite this, some Arab leaders are still wary of ending the blockade, which would give more power to Hamas. According to some media sources, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak secretly hope to continue the blockade in order to avoid giving Hamas a victory. Hamas presents a challenge to Abbas due to its popularity among PA Arabs. It is a challenge to Egypt as well, which struggles to control its own growing extremist Muslim groups. Spokesmen for Abbas denied Sunday that the PA chairman had expressed support for the blockade. On the contrary, they said, Abbas demands that the blockade be lifted completely, allowing Hamas to import and e
