Thank you Morton Klein

--for this irrefutably fact- and logic-based oped on the outrageous case of Imad Sa'ad, the PA policeman sentenced to death or life imprisonment by an Abbas court for the offense of helping Israel prevent terrorism.

Does Mahmoud Abbas support preventing terrorism and jailing terrorists? Is he opposed to terrorism? Does he regard terrorism as the enemy of the peace to which he tells Western audiences he is dedicated? If so, he should be applauding and honoring Imad Sa'ad for doing his duty in fighting terror and assisting the Israelis in doing so, as per the PA's signed obligations under Oslo and the road map. At the very least, he should be immediately releasing Imad Sa'ad from prison. In reality, he has done the opposite and may even have him executed.

IRONICALLY, AT the very time Abbas' court sentences to death a Palestinian who fulfilled a Palestinian signed obligation to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, Abbas continues to demand that Israel release terrorists it has succeeded in arresting. If Abbas was the man of peace and moderation that he is incessantly described as being by President Bush and Secretary Rice and Prime Minister Olmert, why would he be imprisoning someone who fights terror while demanding that jailed terrorists go free?...

If the PA does not release Sa'ad, Israel and the US should immediately cease all aid and break off talks with Abbas and the PA. There is no sense or morality in having peace negotiations with someone who arrests or executes those who help fight terrorists while protecting real terrorists, inciting hatred and murder that feed terrorism and demanding that jailed terrorists go free.

This is a voice of truth and honor. Unfortunately, it's a still, small voice, and neither the Bush nor Olmert government is listening. Letting someone who helped Israel fight terror be executed or jailed because looking at this reality would disrupt the apple cart of your pernicious illusions, and because you're too morally weak and cowardly, is a disgrace to Israeli and American values, and it's also how the world works. The democracies--even the ones that aren't totally cowardly--have a dishonorable tradition of not listening to those who have enough character to describe reality accurately.