The Palestinian Authority will resume peace talks with Israel, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced Wednesday. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had called off negotiations earlier this week in response to Israel’s retaliation in Gaza against the incessant attacks by Hamas. Withdrawing from negotiations gives the terrorists more power, Rice said earlier in the week to persuade Abbas to return to the table.

Abbas has been called, by some, a man of peace who genuinely believes negotiations are the way forward for the Palestinians. But in an interview with the Jordanian daily al-Dustur last week, Abbas was scarcely circumspect.

"At this present juncture, I am opposed to armed struggle because we cannot succeed in it, but maybe in the future things will be different," he told the paper.

Later in the interview, he expressed pride in being among the first Palestinians to attack Israel in 1965.

Even Wednesday, as Rice lauded his decision to return to the negotiating table, Abbas called the peace process "a strategic choice."

The evidence could not be clearer. Unlike Yasser Arafat, who spoke of peace in English but war in Arabic, Abbas speaks plainly in both languages about his desire to reach a settlement. But peace is not a goal for Abbas; it is a means to an end — the end of Israel, whether by military, political, or demographic means.

Obviously, Abbas must be careful of what he says so as not to appear dovish, lest he lose more than just his political life. But his words reveal his intentions.

The Palestinian Authority has chosen peace because it could not succeed in war and, apparently, only because it could not succeed in war. The Palestinians have been touting their patience for decades. Even if it took centuries, they said, they would defeat Israel. Choosing peace as a strategy now does not negate that goal. And calling it a strategy and saying a return to violence could be near only strengthens our suspicions that peace with Israel is not Abbas’ goal. Rather, it seems to us that his goal is Israel is pieces.