Abbas Condemns 'Terrorist Attack,' Plans to Rename Settlements for Suicide Bombers

There is a Palestinian Authority drinking game. Every time a suicide bombing is condemned in English and praised it in Arabic, a shot is consumed. Unfortunately, this one has a flaw - unlike more traditional games, like the one where you have a drink every time someone says 'Hi Bob' on the Bob Newhart show, you can become more inebriated than you had intended.

Here's today's condemnation:

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas condemned the bombing as a "terrorist attack," simultaneously denouncing the killing by Israel Defense Forces of five Palestinians in the West Bank city of Tul Karm during an arrest raid, which Abbas said provoked Sunday's attack . . . .Abbas' national security adviser, Jibril Rajoub, said that the attack was a predictable outcome of the arrest raid, Israel Radio reported. "Israel should have expected this response to the crime in Tul Karm," the radio quoted Rajoub as saying.

In Arabic, Abbas used the word terror (irhaab) to refer only to Israel's actions.

Here's today's praise:

The Palestinian Authority plans to rename some of Israel's evacuated Gaza settlements after dead militants and leaders, possibly including Yasser Arafat and Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

Palestinians want to erase any vestige of Israel's 38 years of occupation in Gaza, but an Israeli official said it would be counterproductive to use the names of Israel's arch foes for the towns, villages and neighbourhoods to be built on the sites.

"It is impossible to keep the names that had been symbols of the occupation," Palestinian Land Authority chief Freih Abu Meddain told reporters in Gaza on Thursday. "I believe the places will carry the names of martyrs or historical figures."

It was not clear whether any of the 25 Jewish enclaves evacuated this week would be renamed for suicide bombers, whom many Palestinians see as nationalist heroes but Israel and most of the international community brand as terrorists.

Palestinians use the term "martyr" for anyone who has died in an attack on Israelis or been killed by Israeli forces during the nearly five-year-old Palestinian uprising.

Drink.