Friday, April 07, 2006
Is Hamas inching toward a two-state solution?
Militant group Hamas is ready for a "two-state" solution with Israel, an unnamed senior Hamas official told the Associated Press April 7. The official said Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh planned to present a proposal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a meeting later April 7.
With Hamas, one cannot be too suspicious. Even if it does negotiate for a two-state resolution, it will view it as a means to the end of destroying Israel. However, that does not mean that Israel should not negotiate with Hamas on that basis. Perhaps only Hamas has the credibility among Palestinian Arabs to deliver a treaty. Peace, if it leads to relative tranquility and prosperity, may well be a trap for the militants over the long haul.
Comments?
(Via Blackberry, which explains the absence of a link)
5 Comments:
By 
, at
Fri Apr 07, 11:59:00 AM:
Hamas will likely follow the example of the PLO, which stated to an international audience that it agreed with a two-state solution, with a wink and a nod to the domestic population. Hamas will eventually say what it needs to say to have the cash spigot turned back on. After all, the PLO balked at agreeing to a two-state solution that would have given them about 95% of what they were demanding. The reason for that is they have sold the idea of the destruction of Israel to their populace. it's part of the Palestinian ethos. Not all of them feel that way, but most of them do. Radicals will kill off the moderates, if it comes to that.
"Peace, if it leads to relative tranquility and prosperity, may well be a trap for the militants over the long haul." Quite so. That's why the PLO build no schools, hospitals or infrastructure during its tenure of leadership. They wanted to keep the populace poor, miserable and pissed off. They succeeded. Hamas has to be very careful not to make their minions too prosperous or comfortable. It's bad for the revolution business.
By 
Dan Collins, at
Fri Apr 07, 12:04:00 PM:
Hamas will do what they can to buy time for the Iranian mullahs to implement their own plan for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
By Cardinalpark, at
Fri Apr 07, 12:14:00 PM:
If I were Hamas, I wouldn't place too much trust in Iranian targetting capability. Israel and Palestine will be in extraordinary proximity to one another. Palestine is full of sunni arabs, not shiite persians. And 20% of Israel's population and citizenry is Arab.
More likely, Hamas is acting like Sharon. Once in power, you try to make stuff happen, even incrementally. It doesn't mean that someday a Hamas led Palestine won't try to "conquer Israel" with a standing army or some similar bit of stupidity. But that's probably better than gang violence. At least it will settle the issue. Remember, only after Egypt and Jordan had lost several wars to Israel did they sign treaties.
By Dan Collins, at
Fri Apr 07, 12:22:00 PM:
No, and I wasn't entirely serious about Hamas wanting Iran to implement that "plan," but I do think they would like to buy enough time by making UN idiots hopeful that Iran can produce a nuke and place more pressure on Israel and its ally to cave on more of their demands than otherwise they'd be inclined to do.
By Anne Rettenberg LCSW, at
Mon Apr 10, 07:41:00 PM:
No one is asking the question: Does Israel want a two-state solution? All the evidence points to the contrary: Continued Jewish settlement building on Palestinian land, the destruction of the Palestinian economy through blockades, the recent refusal to deal with any Palestinian officials. Of course most of this went on before Hamas won the legislative elections--which is one reason WHY they won...the Palestinians saw that Abbas and Fatah couldn't get justice from Israel..
