Thursday, December 20, 2007

Easy options, tough choices

Dec.20, 2007.

Easy options, tough choices


The Palestinian Hamas movement has said it wants genuine reunification of the ranks and heal the rift caused by its violent seizure of the Gaza Strip in June after defeating forces loyal to Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh also wants a cease-fire with Israel after months of rocket attacks against Israeli towns and retaliatory Israeli strikes that killed and wounded hundreds of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
On both counts, sceptics would say Hamas has been cornered into a position where it has no option but to make conciliatory gestures and even appeal through the Israeli media for an end to military strikes against the Gaza Strip.
On the first count, Abbas is going ahead with peace negotiations with Israel and has repeatedly turned down Hamas calls for talks saying no such dialogue could come as long as the group retains its control of the Gaza Strip. It does not make sense for Abbas to make any gestures towards Hamas, a group which resorted to violence in its challenge to his authority. As such, Hamas, if it wants genuine reconciliation with Fatah, should give up control of the Gaza Strip and rejoin the Palestinian political scene as a party, as far as Abbas is concerned.
Obviously, Hamas does not want any unconditional return of the Gaza Strip to the control of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) headed by Abbas. It would have its own conditions attached to any such possibility, particularly that it feels buoyed that it had trounced Fatah by winning 76 per cent of the votes in the 2006 Palestinian elections.
There could indeed be many arguments and counter-arguments against and in favour of Hamas, but the realities on the ground are stacked against Hamas.
For starters, it is difficult to see how Hamas could re-enter mainstream politics as long as it maintains its hard-line positions and challenges and defies the PNA by continuing to rule the Gaza Strip.
Abbas would definitely want to have the Palestinian constituency united behind him, but Hamas has yet to make the right gestures and moves towards this end.
Any PNA overture towards Hamas without the group reciprocating in equal terms and meeting the basic requisites for peace would be futile and would have a negative impact on the US-supported peace negotiations launched in Annapolis last month. The burden on Abbas has become all the more heavier — even as has his international support shot up — with the billions of dollars that donors pledged for the PNA this week.
In the Gaza Strip, the Hamas leaders are burdened with the responsibility of looking after the residents of the area in the face of the crippling Israeli blockade of the area.
Indeed, they do have the easy option of bowing to the Palestinian presdent's authority in order to reunify the Palestinian ranks and thus end the isolation of the Gaza Strip. They could also agree to accept realities on the ground as realities and change their hard-line positions.
At this point, we do not know whether behind-the-scene contacts and Arab mediation between Fatah and Hamas have made any breakthrough. Pending that, it is unlikely that Hamas would exercise the options available to it. And, in the meantime, trust Israel to continue to make life difficult for the Palestinian people.