 |
MideastWeb Middle East Web Log |
| log | archives | middle east | maps | history | documents | countries | books | encyclopedia | culture | dialogue | links | timeline | donations |
|
Search: |
|
|
Solving the Hamas Problem04/24/2006 The Hamas problem will not go away. Therefore we must bore ourselves with yet another discussion of this discouraging topic. In Jordan Times, well meaning Walid M. Sadi offers the Hamas a way out: to accept the Arab peace initiative as demanded by Arab League Secretary, Amr Mousa. This, says Sadi, offers the same content as international initiatives, but as it doesn't come from the West or Israel, Hamas would not appear to be succumbing to Western and Israeli pressure. There are a few problems with Sadi's proposal. The first problem is that the Arab peace initiative doesn't have quite the same content as the quartet proposals and Israeli demands. The former only outlines the terms for Arab peace with Israel, but doesn't say anything about what Palestinians must do. The latter insists that Palestinians stand by former agreements with Israel (oops!, that is a Fatah demand too) and abide by the roadmap, which calls for ending terror and incitement. Since the Hamas charter is one big bit of incitement, and since Hamas apparently cannot exist without continuing terror, it is unlikely Hamas will accept either of those conditions. The second problem is that Hamas could only accept the Arab peace initiative as long as Israel does not do so. If Israel accepts the initiative, then the Hamas has to reject it. That's how the Hamas works. The third problem is that asking the Hamas to accept the Arab peace initiative is like asking the Mongol marauder Hulagu to accept the Atlantic Charter. It isn't going to happen in reality, even if they pay lip service to it. Their charter states that negotiations are a waste of time, so why would they bother with the Arab peace initiative? Last week the Hamas went out of its way to prove to all who want such proof that they aren't interested in peace, international opinion or even Palestinian opinion. First they condoned the recent Islamic Jihad suicide bombing in Tel Aviv as part of "legitimate right of resistance." The Fatah and PNA condemned the bombing. If you thought it could not get worse, later in the week, it did. Hamas declared that it was going to put an end to violence, by creating a special police force. The force would be headed by wanted terrorist Jamal Abu Samhadana, head of the renegade Popular Resistance Committees. Samhadana is wanted, among other things, for organizing the demolition of United States government officials who were on an aid mission to Gaza. He would continue his activities in the Popular Resistance Committees while supposedly running the new police force. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas blocked the appointment as illegal, but the Hamas responded that it was not. It remains to be seen who will have the last word. The question is, what is do be done? In principle, the European Union, the US and Israel are no doubt right to block aid to the Hamas, as it is the only hope of producing a change in their political direction. The problem with this "solution" is that it is not a solution. It may indeed be that the Fatah, as well as Israel and the Quartet are looking forward to an early demise of the Hamas government, as Charmaine Seitz commented in a MERIP report. We can hardly fault Fatah for trying, though MERIP does. Bringing down the opposition is what democracy is all about. After all, MERIP would be the first to insist that the PLO is the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. If it was OK to blow up Israelis to achieve that recognition, why should it be wrong to try to oust Hamas when they want to deny the legitimacy of the PLO? All's fair in love, war and terrorism. However, blocking aid will unite Palestinians behind the Hamas, as Danny Rubinstein commented. Blocking aid will also impoverish the Palestinians. That cannot be good for peace. The economic basis of most societies is production of something. The Palestinian economy at present does not not produce much of anything that can be traded for money. Gaza is blockaded by Israel, and in any case, the only industry that seems to interest Palestinians is the munitions industry. Qassam rockets can be exported without going through Israeli customs. Every additional unemployed able-bodied Palestinian becomes a candidate for the "resistance" movement that is funded by Iran. Economic adversity in Palestinian society is sure to generate more terrorists, as it has done since the 1930s. Hamas will make up the shortfall with contributions from Iran, but of course these contributions will require a quid pro quo. Terror thus becomes the main Palestinian export industry. Even if Fatah were to return to power, they would have a strong Hamas looking over their shoulder, and actively blocking every peace move, as in the past. One option we should not ignore is the imposition of an international force that would rule either Gaza or Gaza and the West Bank, as Gershon Baskin has suggested for the West Bank.
There are only three problems with this approach: Therefore, an international force is a good idea, other than the fact that nobody will allow it and nobody wants to do it. The devil is in the details as always. There do not seem to be any good options for dealing with Hamas, and the options may get worse. The rain of Qassam (and some Katyousha) rockets on Israel that comes from Gaza has thus far resulted in few casualties. Israel has no effective response to the Qassams other than reoccupying Gaza. What Israel is doing now, shelling Gaza indiscriminately, is worse than no response at all. It doesn't stop the Qassams, it threatens Palestinian civilians and gets everyone sore. The shelling of Gaza is therefore intended for internal political political purposes only. It is Israel's "right" to respond, but it is stupid to respond in this way. It is inevitable that since the terrorists keep trying, they will eventually hit some thing or someone that will cause a huge amount of damage that cannot be ignored, and result in fairly massive loss of life. At that point it will be politically and perhaps militarily impossible for Israel not to reoccupy Gaza, and indeed plans to do so exist, and are mentioned with increasing menace. That is precisely the outcome that Hamas and Islamic Jihad want to see. At that point of course, Israeli soldiers will be inside Gaza, where it would be much easier to target them. Killing of Israeli soldiers could be sold as legitimate resistance to occupation. The pressure would certainly grow in Europe to end the economic boycott of the Palestinian government. At the same time, it would become politically impossible, as well as silly perhaps, for Israeli PM Ehud Olmert to implement disengagement in the West Bank, after the Gaza disengagement proved itself to be a failure. However, while there are no good options, it doesn't mean that Israel and the quartet and the rest of the world have to be focused only on implementing the worst possible options. There is no reason for Israel to continue bombardment of Gaza in response to Qassam attacks, since the bombardment just gets everyone mad at Israel. The security value of the spectacular strikes against Islamic Jihad terrorists is probably outweighed by the political damage they do in garnering support for militants. The quartet and moderate Arab countries should be busy making Fatah clean house or building a moderate, non-corrupt political alternative to Fatah that provides the all-important social services which are the backbone of Hamas support. In the long run, providing a reasonable alternative to the Hamas is a much sounder policy than trying to force Palestinians to accept the same old corrupt Fatah-PLO-Tunis government which they rejected. Finally, Israel should be considering what practical and diplomatic steps it can take to strengthen Palestinian moderates and give Palestinians some real hope for peace. For example, Israel should be offering to open a passage for goods through Rafah as well as a Palestinian seaport and Gaza-West bank passage, in return for real Palestinian action to stop terror. This is not quite the same as the current policy, which just states that none of these can be implemented because of the security situation. Israel should also consider a diplomatic initiative based on the Saudi Peace plan, which is not exactly the same as the Arab peace initiative adopted in Beirut, and should use this initiative both to advance the peace process and to help isolate the Hamas in the Arab world. Ami Isseroff
Original text copyright by the author and MidEastWeb for Coexistence, RA. Posted at MidEastWeb Middle East Web Log at http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000452.htm where your intelligent and constructive comments are welcome. Distributed by MEW Newslist. Subscribe by e-mail to mew-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Please forward by email with this notice and link to and cite this article. Other uses by permission. |
|
If you like this post - click to Reddit! 
add to del.icio.us
Add to digg - digg it
|
Replies: 10 comments Very nice article. It deserves to be a 5-10 minute documentary, shown before the movies in US theatres. Of course, like some of the things you mentioned above, great idea, and no one will do it. Really, though, thank you. Posted by Joshua Narins @ 04/24/2006 08:43 PM CST I don't think an international force is a good idea. Unless the Palestinians themselves to stop terrorism and the anarchy an international force will not be able to do anything but stand idelly while terrorism and Israeli retaliations continue. It is about time leftists and Palestinians realize that the international community is not going to solve this problem for us.
The Palestinian will not stop terrorism or dismantle the organizations or stop anti-Israeli rhetoric. It is also pointless to ask them to codemn terrorism, recognize Israel, cancel charters etc. Statements like that are worthless. When they make them they are not trustworthy, when they don't it is just posturing. Al these prior demands don't acheive anything of value, they just keep everything in a state of paralysis combined with annoying excuses and demands for confidence building measures from the Israelis. Israel can't really strengthen the moderates. Any concession is credited to the 'resistance' any unsatisfactory concession is blamed on the moderates.
Everything should be moved to a concrete level:
Ultimately this should acheive some or all of these goals. Posted by Micha @ 04/25/2006 02:37 AM CST This is very funny:- "Qassam rockets can be exported without going through Israeli customs." However this is very stupid:- "the only industry that seems to interest Palestinians is the munitions industry." A joke has to be true to be funny. Obviously most Palestinians would prefer to have a stable economic situation and get on with their lives unmolested. However misguidedly, they saw Hamas as a better route to that than Fatah. Don't forget, Hamas itself has maintained a truce for a year now, so your comments about it being unable to exist without terror seem a little wide of the mark. Your conclusions are good, however. Posted by Chris @ 04/28/2006 08:34 PM CST
Dear Chris, Posted by Ami Isseroff @ 04/29/2006 03:08 AM CST CT-Graphics - professional photography, royalty free photos, photo journalism, photo objects, action photography, images - San Diego, California royalty free photos. Stock Photography - Royalty-Free Stock Photos - Photo Objects - Stock Images Low Cost High Resolution at CT-graphics Download royalty free stock photos, stock images, photo-objects at the best stock photography royalty free image site. Search our royalty-free image collections for stock photo objects and royalty free pics for business stock photography, dogs and animals photos, pictures of churches, medical photos, and more! Request pictures at CT - Graphics !!! Posted by CT Graphics @ 05/01/2006 12:03 AM CST Yes, he is correct, that is a sad fact, and no joke at all. Industialization is a serious matter; next to education they nearly make up what determines a third-world country. Posted by Ijesua Ralan @ 05/01/2006 07:53 PM CST Thanks for that Ami. From the CIA World Factbook:- "In 2001, and even more severely in 2003, Israeli military measures in PA areas resulted in the destruction of much capital plant, the disruption of administrative structure, and widespread business closures. Including the West Bank, the UN estimates that more than 100,000 Palestinians out of the 125,000 who used to work in Israel or in joint industrial zones have lost their jobs. Half the labor force is unemployed." I assumed that by "industry" you meant productive work in general rather than manufacturing, and on that basis I stand by my comment. I have been to a number of sites of conflict (not including Palestine) and people in general remain primarily interested in earning a living. Regarding economic development in the West Bank I bow to your local knowledge. However there does appear to have been SOME manufacturing industry or the CIA would not be referring to the destruction of capital plant by the IDF. Posted by Chris @ 05/04/2006 04:25 PM CST And from the "Financial Times":-
"Palestinian business calls for unity government Leaders of the Palestinian private sector on Tuesday called on Hamas and other political parties to set up a government of national unity that would formulate its own plan for peace with Israel. The unprecedented entry of the business community into the political debate reflected the growing economic crisis in the Palestinian territories where more than 150,000 public employees this week went unpaid for a second month because of a suspension of international aid to the Hamas government." Interesting.... Posted by Chris @ 05/05/2006 02:57 PM CST Hopefully, some one will devise a creative solution to this problem which is currently being used to build popular support for Islamic fundementalism's war aganist western civilization. peter Posted by peter @ 05/08/2006 02:39 AM CST
Hi all, A.I. Posted by moderator @ 05/19/2006 04:24 PM CST Please do not leave notes for MidEastWeb editors here. Hyperlinks are not displayed. We may delete or abridge comments that are longer than 250 words, or consist entirely of material copied from other sources, and we shall delete comments with obscene or racist content or commercial advertisements. Comments should adhere to Mideastweb Guidelines . IPs of offenders will be banned. |
[Previous entry: "The Euston Manifesto - Taking Back the Dream"] Main Index [Next entry: "Israel, the Palestinians and terror - reinventing history"]
ALL PREVIOUS MidEastWeb Middle East LOG ENTRIES
Thank you for visiting MidEastWeb - Middle East.
If you like what you see here, tell others about the MidEastWeb Middle East Web Log - www.mideastweb.org/log/.
Copyright
Editors' contributions are copyright by the authors and MidEastWeb for Coexistence RA.
Please link to main article pages and tell your friends about MidEastWeb. Do not copy MidEastWeb materials to your Web Site. That is a violation of our copyright. Click for copyright policy.
MidEastWeb and the editors are not responsible for content of visitors' comments.
Please report any comments that are offensive or racist.
Editors can log in by clicking here
|
|
RSS feed
Add to Amphetadesk