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This Is No Time to Waver
by Zvi Heifetz
- Following Hamas's coup in Gaza, a window of opportunity has opened for the formation of a new moderate Palestinian government. If we can build on this momentum, the regional summit planned for this autumn could bring real results.
- In the Palestinian president, Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas, we believe we have found a partner who can fulfil the national aspirations of the Palestinian people and deliver a meaningful peace.
- Contrast this with Hamas, which, despite its public relations successes, remains an extremist group motivated by a murderous ideology, using violent and criminal means to meet its ends. Abbas himself has described Hamas members as terrorists, ruling out direct talks following the bloody coup in Gaza. Any attempt to do differently will undermine him, damaging both his ability to negotiate and to govern.
- After the disengagement from Gaza, it was Hamas that terrorized Israeli civilians with a near-constant barrage of rockets fired from the very areas Israel had returned to Palestinian control.
- Now Hamas has its sights set on the West Bank. What rockets fired from there could do to Tel Aviv, only a few miles inside the Green Line, does not bear thinking about. The writer is the Israeli ambassador in London.(Guardian -- UK)
Time to Talk to Hamas
by Mike Gapes
- Hamas was democratically elected as the majority party in the Palestinian legislative council in January 2006.
- As a consequence of its failure to explicitly endorse the three Quartet principles - non-violence, recognition of Israel and commitment to previous agreements - it has faced a boycott ever since.
- The decision not to engage with Hamas after the Mecca agreement has proved to be counterproductive. Hamas is not a homogenous organization.
- It is an Islamist movement that includes more pragmatic and more extreme elements. The current policy helped isolate the pragmatists. This must be reversed.
- Ways must be found to engage politically with more moderate elements to help move Hamas towards the three Quartet principles and become a true partner for peace in the Middle East. (Guardian-UK)
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Good Statecraft Means Not Excluding the Enemy
by Dennis Ross
- Hamas, a non-state actor, is now dominant in Gaza. We cannot ignore that providing assistance to Gaza now requires someone to deal with Hamas.
- It need not be us, but total isolation and a cut-off could produce a humanitarian disaster.
- If we don't want others in the international community to feel compelled to establish normal contacts with Hamas, we need to forge an international consensus on how to deal with the realities in Gaza.
- There may be a need to permit at least some limited commerce to prevent a complete economic collapse.
- But if Hamas wants developmental assistance or investment coming to Gaza, they should have to play by the basic rules of the game - one of which is stopping attacks against Israel. (Beirut Daily Star)
A Modest Ambition
Editorial
- Hamas may be subject to an international diplomatic boycott but it is not out of the picture. No peace deal has much chance of being brokered, let alone of lasting, without its consent.
- Hamas won last year's legislative elections and remains popular not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank.
- Nothing in the career of the timorous Mr Abbas suggests that he would dare to make a final deal with Israel that Hamas opposed.
- So long as Hamas remains excluded, expectations of what is achievable at Mr Bush's autumn meeting had therefore better be modest.
- No grand bargain will be implemented against Hamas's will. Nor, paradoxically, could such a deal be negotiated with Hamas on board—not, at least, while it continues to reject the very principle of permanent peace with Israel. (Economist)
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