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Sunday, January 22, 2006
America, Israel, and Hamas
A thought-provoking essay at Daily Kos with perspective on allowing Hamas to participate in the upcoming Palestinian election process. He draws a parallel to the Nineties, when Fatah and the PLO claimed to reject terrorism and joined the political process:
And when I hear the voices which call for us to reject Hamas, and tell us
that there is no hope that Hamas can ever come to peace with Israel, I remember
how the voices then told us the same about Fatah... [If] we dare to give
Hamas the chance we gave to Fatah, that we can all learn the limits of violence
and come to the room to talk and shake hands. Perhaps they will not accept
us, and will not accept peace. We know only too well how to deal with
that, and if we must, we shall again. But we can only have hope if we dare
to take the chance.
I am not ready to accept his premise - namely that allowing Hamas to participate in the political process now would be a positive step towards peace. Hamas's founding charter calls for (and continues to call for) the destruction of Israel and wants to impose an Islamic state on all Palestinian territory. All that needs to change. Even Fatah has not come around in the way one would have liked, as of late they seem to have regressed to their old terrorist ways. Corruption is rampant in Fatah, and this has actually been Hamas' biggest selling point - that they are reliable and relatively free of corruption. But they still have much blood on their hands. But the first step is thinking about change which is what Jay Elias has done, as naive as it currently seems. Unfortunately, the only alternative is more pain and suffering on both sides.
In a related story, "New-look Hamas spends £100k on an image makeover." I kid you not . - posted by wanderer @ 8:31 AM
Comments:
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It's nice to see you disagreeing with Kos!
The lesson should be that dealing with the PLO was a mistake, not that since Isreal has dealings with the PLO it should also deal with Hammas.
The lesson should be that dealing with the PLO was a mistake, not that since Isreal has dealings with the PLO it should also deal with Hammas.
No I think Israel had no choice but to deal with the PLO, and will eventually have no choice but to deal with Hamas as well.
Now is not the time though - Hamas will need to evolve further, denounce violence, accept Israel's right to exist, etc.
So I guess you still can say I disagree with something in Kos, but don't get too excited now...
(BTW- I also must admit that today I toyed with the idea of us bombing the Iranian nuclear program to hell and highwater, which of course would be preferable and easier than an all-out invasion and war...gasp!)
Now is not the time though - Hamas will need to evolve further, denounce violence, accept Israel's right to exist, etc.
So I guess you still can say I disagree with something in Kos, but don't get too excited now...
(BTW- I also must admit that today I toyed with the idea of us bombing the Iranian nuclear program to hell and highwater, which of course would be preferable and easier than an all-out invasion and war...gasp!)
This guy is fooling himself. It sounds good, feels good and seems logical. However western logic is not applicable here and this guy is fooling himself.
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